It's my room!
by Dutchygirl
Summary: When Hermione suspects that Draco annoys her just to get her to move out of the Head Common room, she decides to reverse his plan... until it gets a little out of hand. Dramione.
1. No delight in owning anything unshared

_A/N:_

_I haven't written a story for fanfiction for a long time, because I've been busy. But I got some time now, so I'm trying out this Harry Potter fanfic._

_This story is about the seventh year and the important stuff at the end of book 6 didn't happen, Malfoy didn't get the task to murder Dumbledore and Snape didn't kill Dumbledore. Just imagine that Voldemort got a bit lazy in the sixth year and he hasn't gotten very far with his plans yet lol. Anyway, on with the story now!_

_Disclaimer: not owning Harry Potter, because then I would have called the books Draco Malfoy and centered the whole story about him ;)_

**Chapter 1 There is no delight in owning anything unshared**

"Malfoy."

No answer. Obviously.

"Malfoy!"

It all had sounded so beautiful in her mind. She, Hermione Granger, had the honor to be the Head Girl. She even had let out a little, high-pitched shriek, when she had gotten the letter which had stated the news. What a foolish girl she had been then.

Yes, the role of Head Girl did please her. She especially enjoyed being responsible and in control. One of her first tasks had been to order the prefects to control the cabins in the Hogwarts Express for any abnormalities and she had been extremely satisfied, when the train journey had been smooth without any problems. The privileges certainly were nice as well. Her bedroom was twice as big as the one she had in her previous school years. Not to mention her private book case she could stuff with every book she could think of. There actually was only one little disadvantage of being a Head Girl, which sneakily hadn't been mentioned in the letter.

The blonde Slytherin, Draco Malfoy, had to be the Head Boy. She was forced to work together with the guy, who had been insulting and harassing her for the last years. And that wasn't even the worst part. They had to share a common room and a bathroom, which meant she couldn't even avoid his presence if she wanted to. As a small consolation, she kept telling herself that they at least had separate bedrooms.

"It's my turn!" She yelled impatiently. She had been standing in front of the bathroom for so long that she was getting beyond annoyed.

She stared ashamed at the self-made sign hanging on the door, that said occupied. The lock of the bathroom door already had been broken for some days. Three days ago she and Draco had been pulling so harshly at the heck of the bathroom door, both trying to be the first to get in the bathroom, that the poor heck had fallen off and the lock had broken down.

"I'll be done in a minute," she heard him scream at the other side of the door.

Of course he wouldn't be done in a minute. It was just his automatic reaction to her, whenever she asked him to hurry up. And the bathroom time was the worst, because he could stay in there for hours. Bathing, doing his hair, brushing his teeth and doing whatever it was what he did in there. She didn't even want to know.

"Pansy's coming over tomorrow evening, so you have to be gone then," he stated. Like always he ordered her. He didn't even bother to friendly ask if she would be okay with it.

"Again?" she sighed, " But I already invited Ron and Harry."

"I told you not to invite those two to come here. The last time Weasley was here, it took a week before all the lice were gone. Like it already isn't bad enough living with that thing in here."

"Crookshanks is an animal, not a thing."

"Yes, just like the Weasel and Potter. You shouldn't invite them anymore."

"We've already been through this. If I'm not allowed to invite Ron and Harry, then you can't invite Crabbe or Goyle or that Blaise guy."

Although the Italian kid certainly was the smartest of Malfoys friends, she would always feel uncomfortable when he stopped by. He had this strange way of looking at her, like he was checking her out. Maybe if it had been another guy who had been looking at her like that, she would have been flattered. But she knew very well that his gaze wasn't specially reserved for her. He stared at every girl in that manner and that fact just made his stare creepy.

Bored of waiting, she glanced at the common room. The room had been another main topic of her many discussions with Malfoy. They couldn't agree about anything. Finally they decided to divide the room in half. Yes, it had even come to the pathetic point they had to put down an actual line to make sure which side of the room was hers and which was his.

There was something off about the common room. A few drawers of her closet had been opened, like someone had been wildly searching through her things.

"Did you come to my side of the room?" she asked Malfoy suspiciously.

At that moment Malfoy walked out of the bathroom and to her horror she immediately saw which one of her possessions had been taken away from her cabinet. It wasn't hard to notice since it was the only thing that he was wearing. A towel. To be precise her pink, soft towel.

"Merlin, don't look at me like I've committed a crime. I just needed a towel or would you rather have me here walking naked?"

"Yes! No…" she blushed, " I mean you should have asked first."

He simply shrugged and grabbed a tube of hair gel. Irritated by his nonchalance she headed to the bathroom to finally have her chance to shower.

Stupid ferret. He really didn't have one clue about having respect for the belongings of others. He just walked around in their room, acting like he was a king who could do whatever what he wanted whenever he wanted.

"Don't go in there, I still have to do my hair," he pushed her aside and before she knew it, she was again standing in front of a closed bathroom door.

Don't get mad. Don't get mad and do something you will regret, she thought to herself. She still had to live with him for seven more months. Only seven more months and it all would be over. Oh! It was going to be seven very long months.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"He's the worst roommate you've could ever imagine," Hermione complained to her friends in the Gryffindor common room.

"If you want, I could ask Fred and George whether they have some new magic prank from their joke shop to annoy Malfoy," Ron tried to help, while a sheepishly grin appeared on his face. He was probably already imagining all of the unfortunate things that magically could happen to Malfoy.

"Thanks, but I think I should handle this myself. I will talk to him."

Hermione couldn't help but notice how Harry rolled his eyes and how Ron stared at her silently.

"What?" She asked, wondering what she had said that was so wrong.

"You've already tried to talk to him last time," Harry explained.

"And the time before that and the time before that and the time before that…" Ron added.

"I just don't understand why he has to be _this_ annoying. We agreed to be as civilized as possible, while we had to share the room."

"He's Malfoy. It's in his blood to be annoying."

Unsatisfied with the answer she had be given, she buried her head again in a book about mythical creatures. The report wasn't due in three weeks, but she wanted to make sure every word was precisely perfect. She tried really hard to concentrate on her text book, but she couldn't help her thoughts wandering back to Malfoy. The horrible, arrogant Slytherin. Unbelievable, now he even was disturbing her learning process, while he wasn't here.

If he just hadn't been the Head Boy, her seventh year would have been perfect. Why did the Head Boy an Head Girl have to share a room? Stupid rules of that agreement for Heads…

"That must be it! Why haven't I thought of that before," she suddenly exclaimed.

Harry and Ron looked dumbfounded at her, not knowing what she was talking about.

"There was a rule in the agreement for Heads, that Malfoy and I had to sign in the Hogwarts Express. The only way for a Head to be excluded from the Head room is if a Head voluntarily gives up his or her Head room . Malfoy's been harassing me, so that I will give up my room," Hermione smiled proudly for cracking the code for Malfoy's behavior, " So I will have to annoy him more, so that he will gives up his room."

"You sure he's not just being annoying, because he is annoying?" Her red-haired friend asked unimpressed.

'' 'Mione, you do know it's Malfoy we're talking about. Do you really want to make him mad on purpose, when you don't have to?"

"So you don't think I can outsmart him?" she asked offended.

"No it's not like that at all. But he plays dirty and you… you're just not like that. You play by the rules and he doesn't. He has his evil Slytherin ways, being sneaky and deceiving. It could be dangerous."

Hermione sighed miserably. Maybe she did have to be the mature one and stand above it. They already had enough problems with the rise of Voldemort as it was without her making problems with Malfoy.

Again, she focused her attention on her many paged book. Unintentionally her eyes gazed at the pile of other books she had brought with her. Out one of the books hung a strange kind of green fabric she hadn't seen before. Curiously she pulled the fabric out to find out what it was. To her surprise it was a sock, in which was imprinted a great, silver M.

Disgusted she threw away the sock. This was it! The final straw! She had enough. Malfoy had disgraced her precious book by leaving a disgusting a sock of his in it and she wasn't letting him get away with it. She had been the smartest of all of her classes every year and there was no way she couldn't compete with some self-absorbed, big-headed blonde. She was going to sink to his level and beyond it if she had to. The common room was going to be hers. Only hers.

_A/N: Was it good? Was it bad? Was it in between? Let me know if you can. Any comment is welcome :) Also, if someone likes to beta this story let me know by PM or in a review. For now I try to do the best I can, but English isn't my native language, so I don't always see the mistakes I make. So I'm sorry for any mistakes._


	2. Foam bubbles splash

_A/N: First of all a word to my two reviewers. I don't think I would publish these stories here if it didn't get any response. So yay my reviewers! :D_

_-Reviewer without a name: Congratulations, you're the first reviewer to this story! So now you'll be special forever. I only hope you didn't sign it anonymously, because you were too ashamed to publicly admit you loved it. XD Anyway, thanks!_

_-kate: Thank you, I hope it will continue to intrigue you. I'm going to try to update once a week :)_

_Ok, on with chapter 2, my readers. My spell check is my beta now, so if you see any mistakes you can always point them out to me, so I can correct them. Also, I like the Dramione relationship to develop gradually to make it believable, so bear with me through the parts where they're fighting and all, because it will come to the romance eventually. Besides I like them fighting a bit for now :) Ok, enough with my rambling and I just let you quietly read now._

**Chapter 2 Foam bubbles splash**

"Granger, are you in there?"

"Yes, I just got in here, so you'll have to wait," she answered smiling.

She relaxed in the tub, which she now liked to call '_her_ tub', that was filled with many foam bubbles and clear, hot water. There was no way she would be getting out of this bath anytime soon. Well, at least not until her classes would begin. She wasn't going to be late for her lessons of course.

This morning she had gotten up earlier than usual, because she wanted to be sure that she was up before Malfoy. Today would be different. This time she wouldn't be the one standing outside waiting for the bathroom. Carefully she had observed Malfoy's actions and just when he was about to go to the bathroom, she had sneakily slipped in before he could.

"Have you seen my socks?" The voice of her roommate sounded behind the door.

"What kind of socks?"

"Any of my socks. I can't even find one pair."

"I haven't seen anything," she said innocently, while her smile grew wider.

After she found the dirty sock of him lying around between the pages of her valuable book, she decided she didn't want to see any more of his socks. Ever. So late last night, it had to be late since she had to wait before Malfoy was sleeping, she used a vanishing spell to make all his socks disappear. She wasn't actually sure about where she had sent his socks, but the spell surely had his effect. There wasn't a single sock of Malfoy left in the Head room.

Suddenly the door swung open and Malfoy came rushing in, looking searchingly through the room.

"Are you sure there aren't any of my socks in here?"

"Malfoy… I'm naked!" she shrieked. Luckily there were a lot of foam bubbles in her bath, that covered her up, for the most part anyway. How dared he to come in like that? He knew she was in here and still he just stormed in like it didn't matter she was nude.

"Yes, so you'd better clean this bath thoroughly when you get out. I don't want any of your filth on my skin."

"That's not the point!"

For the first time he had entered the bathroom, Malfoy looked straight right at her and a devilish grin appeared on his face.

"You really think that I would want to see your naked body? Good to see you finally found some sense of humor, Granger," he smirked.

"Could you just get out?" She flushed. She couldn't believe him and his stupid remarks.

To her relief and slight surprise, he actually listened to her and left the room. She took a deep breath to calm down. Hopefully he wasn't going to use this awkward situation as an amusing story he was going to share with all of his Slytherin friends.

All of this wasn't supposed to happen. This had to be her day to annoy him, not the other way around. He was supposed to be the one who was going to be upset and mad, not her. She just had to pull herself together and find her cool. She was going to be the one in control from now on.

Just as she started to relax again, the bathroom door swung open for a second time.

"Granger, there was a…" he started.

"Get out."

"But…"

"Get out! Get out! Get out!"

"Fine, but next time you should warn me in advance when you're having your period. I didn't think it was possible, but you're even crankier than usual."

Furiously she threw a sponge towards him, hitting the door as he left the room again. He was so annoying. How did he always exactly know how to push her buttons? It was like he had a special gift to make her angry in any given situation.

Well, he was going to pay for this. He was going to end up worse than his socks.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

She ran as fast as she could through the hallway. Her hair was a mess and her face was all red and sweaty. Her appearance however didn't matter at this moment.

She was running at such a high speed that she accidently pushed some other student, through which all the books the student was holding fell on the ground. "Sorry," she screamed, not bothering to stop and help to pick up the books. She would make it up later. Right now she just didn't have the time.

Breathing heavily, she finally arrived at the place where she had to be. Nervously she looked in the eyes of the teacher of Potions and of course – he was everywhere she went - the blonde Head Boy. Silently she took place in the only seat in the small office that wasn't taken.

"Miss Granger, how nice of you for sparing some of your valuable time to attend this meeting… even if you're fifteen minutes late," Snape stated in his usual cold tone.

"Malfoy didn't tell me you wanted to see us," Hermione explained, while she gave a deathly stare to Malfoy.

"I tried to, but you were having monthly issues."

"I'm not having monthly issues!" she protested heavily. How did he dare to imply that about her in front of a professor?

"Would you both be quiet?" Snape asked, although it sounded anything but a question, "I'm already not very pleased for having to do this, so I'd rather have this done with fast."

Hermione felt a bit relieved. If Snape had to do something he didn't like, at least it couldn't mean he was going to punish her. She knew how much he loved doing that.

"Professor Sprout is, as you know, the president of the Committee of Festivities this year. Unfortunately she had an unforeseen accident last night and while she's recovering, I'm obliged to continue her activities."

"Professor Sprout was in an accident?" she asked startled.

"Not that is any of your business, miss Granger, but apparently a very large pile of socks, coming out of nowhere, landed on her head last night, through which she fell."

Hermione was in shock. Now she knew where all the socks of Malfoy had landed. She had been so mad at Malfoy, she had used the spell without thinking. She hadn't really thought it through what would happen to the socks. Next time she had to be more careful when she was using a hex.

"Socks?" Malfoy muttered softly to himself.

"Is she all right?" Hermione inquired, partially out of concern, partially to distract Malfoy's thoughts so that he wouldn't put one and one together about the socks.

"She will be fine," The teacher of Potions answered uninterested, "In a few weeks there will be the annual ball for the seventh years. It's a tradition that the Head Girl and Head Boy will dance together to open the event."

"Is that really necessary?" Malfoy whined. For once Hermione agreed with him and she turned her head to Snape, desperately hoping he would know a way to get out of this arrangement.

"It's my opinion that all the festivities around here are unnecessary, but it's a tradition, so regrettably yes. In the next weeks you will be getting dance lessons in which Professor Trelawney will teach you two how to dance."

"Professor Trelawney?" Hermione gasped, "She knows how to dance?"

"Yes, she participated in many dance competitions before she became a teacher here," Snape handed over two written papers to them, "Here's your schedule for the dancing lessons."

Hermione studied the dates at the paper. The dance lessons were once a week in the evenings. It wasn't that often, but still every dance lesson with Malfoy and that horrible Trelawney – oh, how she despised the female professor with the ridiculously large glasses – was a lesson too many.

"And miss Granger?" Snape asked her attention.

"Yes."

"For being late and asking all these questions like a nosy miss I-want-to-know-it-all, I have no choice but to deduct 10 points from Gryffindor."

"But…" she wanted to object, say that it wasn't her fault, but she realized it was Snape she was talking to, so she spared herself the embarrassment and gave in, "Yes, professor Snape."

Unhappily she stood up from her chair and left the office. Her life only seemed to be getting worse and worse by the minute.

At least there was one thing she had to look forward to. Tonight Pansy was coming over to the Head common room to meet Malfoy and she was going to do everything in her power to ruin their date. Malfoy was going to be in for a long night.

_A/N: I know, a ball. It's a cliche, but, oh well, if fitted perfectly with the storyline, so I had to put it in :) Besides I already have the other cliches (Hermione and Draco being heads, sharing a room) in this story, so I guess it doesn't really matter. I just like to give my own twists to the cliches :)_

_Seen some mistakes? Or do you have any questions? Or did you like my story and do you want me to continue writing it? Or anything else you have on your mind? Give me a review and make me very happy!_


	3. Horrible date night

_A/N: Yay, another two reviews! :) My great thanks to the reviewers:_

_- couragetcd: Wow, you're very creative with socks! If I ever make another plot involving something with a sock, I definitely will talk to you first for inspiration XD_

_- Leviosascarlett106: Uhm...you mean that the story takes place in the Head room? Well, after this chapter, there will be many different settings :) So keep reading to find out :)_

_Also thanks for all the people who put this story on their story alert and/or favorite list. I can't believe there are suddenly so many of you following this story!:)_

_Okay, here comes chapter 3!_

**Chapter 3 Horrible date night**

Surrounded by books, Hermione lay comfortably on the big, red couch – which Malfoy didn't want to have on his side of the room, because it had a Gryffindor color – with a parchment and a dove feather in her hands. Patiently she was waiting for Malfoy to come back to the Head room. It was the first time she actually was looking forward to seeing him again. She never would have thought, she would be having so much fun coming up with plans to upset Malfoy.

Sure, she had contrived many schemes and plans with Harry and Ron in the past years, but then it always had been about Voldemort, the most powerful Dark Wizard of all times. It had been serious. A matter of live or death. Every plan had to be absolutely perfect. Because if it wasn't flawless, it meant the demise of the whole, wide world.

But now with Malfoy there wasn't such a massive amount of pressure. It was just standing up for herself. Plus she had to do a lot of research for finding the right hexes, so her actions were good for increasing her knowledge and improving her grades as well.

Suddenly she heard voices coming from the hallway. That was her cue. As the door of the Head room slowly opened, she picked up her wand and whispered the words she had been practicing for the last hour. She loved how such a simple thing like a word could have such much impact in the magical world. Maybe that was the reason she always had been an outstanding student in performing spells. She breathed and lived the words, precisely knowing and feeling their every meaning.

From the corner of her eyes she looked at Malfoy and Pansy entering the room. Apparently something very funny must have happened, because they were both laughing when they came in. They probably had made fun of some poor firstyear who had the unfortunate fate to cross their path.

Malfoy spotted her presence and his expression changed into an uneasy one, "Granger, I told you to be gone tonight."

"Oh was that tonight?" she tried very hard to look surprised, "It must have slipped my mind."

"It was tonight. Now get your soddin' ass out of here."

"I have to study," she replied calmly, demonstratively burying her head in one of the books.

"Can't you go to the library like a normal geek?"

"It was too crowded," she said without even looking up. Obviously it was a lie, but she couldn't imagine that Malfoy had been in the library this evening to know this information.

"Come Draco, we'll just have fun in your room then," Pansy held Malfoy by the arm, "You can't really blame the ugly Mudblood for not having a social life."

"We'll talk about this later, Granger," Malfoy hissed warningly, before he and Pansy went into his bedroom.

Hermione shook her head. Weren't they a pleasant couple (!). Pansy was such a wrench, always making insults. Every time they saw each other the Slytherin girl had the annoying tendency to point out everything that was wrong about her, in particular about how unattractive she was. Hermione definitely wasn't feeling any sorry now – not that she really would have before - for involving this girl as a victim in her plan for Malfoy.

Hermione played with her wand a musical melody. A little loud. Actually not a little, the music was very loud.

As she expected, it didn't take long before the Head Boy came out of his room and stood angrily in front of her.

"What's this?" he demanded.

"It's Mozart. Classical music is said to help you concentrate, through which you can better memorize."

"Who the hell is Mustard?"

"He's a great musician who…"

"If he's that great," Malfoy interrupted her, "I'm sure he can tone down a bit."

She shrugged her shoulders, the same careless gesture he had done so many times, when she was mad. To her amusement she saw how his eyes were spiting with fire.

"Okay," she said as nice as she could, just at the moment when he was about to explode.

Innocently she turned down the music, at which Malfoy took a deep breath and returned to his bedroom.

Laughing in herself, Hermione returned to her homework. She was getting comfortable in her new role as terrible roommate. It was much more fun to be the annoying one than the annoyed one.

Suddenly a loud scream came out of the Head Boy's bedroom and it certainly wasn't one out of pleasure. The horrific, high sound set the teeth on edge.

"Oh, my poor face! Don't you touch me!" Hermione could hear Pansy yelling.

Soon after that, Pansy stormed out of the Head Boy's bedroom, holding both of her hands in front of her face. She was obviously to embarrassed to show herself.

"Don't you even dare to look!" the Slytherin girl warned Hermione, as she hastily walked through the common room and exited through the door.

Malfoy also came out of his room, looking confused about what just happened.

"Something going on?" Hermione pretended to be concerned.

"I kissed her and she got this rash, an incredible rash. There were incredible ugly green pimples all over her face… it must be some kind of spell," Malfoy explained, although it seemed more like it that he was talking to himself than to her, trying to comprehend what happened in his bedroom.

"Green pimples all over? Really?" Although Hermione already had known the effects of her hex, she couldn't help laughing. Especially after she had gotten a small peep of Pansy's face with the abnormal rash in reality.

"There has to be some way to stop this, some way to reverse this…" Malfoy started to grab some books that had been lying around her and rapidly flipped the pages, "Stop laughing and help me."

"Why do I have to help you?"

"Because you're a bookworm. You know every book."

She stared strangely at Malfoy. That almost sounded like a compliment. Almost.

A tiny, tiny bit flattered and mostly scared he would find the spell in her books, she started to search through her books, hoping she would find the right book before he did. Now, what was called it again? Hex… hexes… Hag… 'How to hex a hag', that was it! Where was it? She glanced through the room and to her horror she saw the book, right in the hands of Malfoy. She was too late.

"Here, it says right here, kiss of- Why is this marked?" Malfoy suddenly realized something "You did this?"

"No… I would never…" Hermione stammered.

"They really don't teach you how to lie at Gryffindor, do they? " he saw right through her, "Why did you do this?"

This definitely wasn't part of the plan. He wasn't supposed to know that she was playing tricks with him. She saw that he was getting beyond angry. Quickly she had to come up with some sort of an excuse for her behavior. She couldn't tell him she wanted to bother him so much that he would give up and leave the Head room. If he knew about that, he would probably never leave. Stubborn, proud ferret as he was.

"Because you're turning this room into some kind of … sex crib," she ended up saying, heavily blushing " and I'm not allowing it."

"Not everyone is as asexual like you."

"I'm not!" she screamed insulted.

He came closer to her and an evil smile slowly arose on his face. A smile from him couldn't be good. That was never good.

"If you're not, I guess you don't mind some kissing," He narrowed his eyes, " I'm sure you will look much prettier with some green pimples on your head than you do now."

Her eyes were wide open of shock, realizing the meaning of his words.

"No Malfoy…" she squealed, as she slowly began to walk backwards as he moved towards her.

Desperately she searched with her eyes for her wand. Where was her wand when she needed it? She bumped with her back into the wall, through which she couldn't get away from him anymore. He grabbed her arm, so she couldn't escape. He got closer and closer. She could feel his breath at her skin. What was she going to do now?

At the last minute she managed to grab a book from the bookcase next to her and squeezed it between her and Malfo's face, so that Malfoy ended up kissing the book instead of her.

Taking advantage of his surprise, she got away from his grip on her and she grabbed her wand from the floor. She sprinted into her bedroom, quickly locking the door behind her. To be absolutely sure Malfoy wasn't going to follow her, she casted some protection spells at the door.

Startled she sat on her bed. Hearing the sounds of hexes at the other side of the door, she realized she had been right for making the defensive incantations.

She couldn't believe Malfoy almost kissed her. Even though it was for the sole reason that he wanted to give her a rash, it still had been a weird moment. He had been so close.

She wondered what would have happened if they had kissed, except for the horrible pimples that would have been on her face. Harry and Ron presumably would have been beyond shock and disgust if they ever heard that they had kissed. Not to mention all of the Slytherins. Especially Pansy, she probably would have died hearing such news. Hermione grinned, maybe she should have kissed Malfoy. The gasping face of Pansy would have been priceless.

Then she shook her head. Why was she even thinking about this? There was no way she and Malfoy would ever kiss. He was the enemy.

She stared the door. There weren't any more sounds coming, which had to mean that he finally stopped trying to break the door open.

She almost felt safe again until she heard him say: "It's a war now, Granger."

_A/N: No, no kissing yet :P It wouldn't be good if Hermione will always associate their first kiss with a rash, now would it? XD_

_Actually I think this is one of the weakest chapters of this story, I hope you all liked it though... Let me know. Reviews make me the happiest and give me motivation to write :)_


	4. Just an ordinary day

_A/N: Okay, what just happened? __O.o __I suddenly got six reviews for the last chapter! Wow, that's really amazing. Thank you. Thank you! Thank you! :)_

_-Leviosascarlet166 : Well, although Hermione likes to think otherwise, she won't be able to always control everything ;)_

_-couragetcd : Ah, Malfoy is always cunning, so I'm sure he has many plans in store ;)_

_-PollyRawrr : I'm glad you agree with me. :) I don't like rushed romances._

_-kira lovegood : No, no sudden things happening, well except for some plot twists in the later chapters, but no sudden romance ;)_

_-Just Your Above Average Malfoy : Lol, I know what you mean. I like annoying people as well, just to see their faces XD_

_-krista04 : I like you for liking it :)_

_Okay, chapter 4! It has a little bit another structure than the normal chapters, just to keep the story flowing. :)_

**Chapter 4 Just an ordinary day**

_8.28 AM Head Girl bedroom_

"Malfoy!" she screamed angrily. She couldn't believe him. This was the worst thing he ever could have done to her.

Like every morning, she went through her books and notes to prepare for her lessons. Although she already knew every word by heart, it was a morning ritual of hers that calmed her and made her feel safe. After she would read the notes, she would always feel ready for the day…

But not today. Not at all today. Her notes and books were all blank. No text, no words, only white sheets.

First she thought she still had been sleeping and this was some kind of nightmare. But as longer the supposedly dream went on and on, she realized the valuable words in her books and notes were really gone.

She flipped the pages in all of her books, trying to find one book that wasn't hexed. He couldn't have possibly damaged them all. He wasn't that powerful… nor that mean, right?

However she couldn't find one book or note that was untouched. Damn him! She should have casted a spell, preferably multiple spells, to protect her books. She should have known he would go after her books, it were the things that she loved most. How was she going to make it through the day now?

_8.47 AM Head Common room_

The bathroom door swung open so rapidly, she thought the door was going to break. However, luckily the door only made a hard, squeaking sound and the sight of what came out of the bathroom was much more amusing.

"You've made a friggin' ginger out of me?" Malfoy screamed, looking with disgust to his hair.

Hermione couldn't help but laugh. It was a really comical sight, Malfoy having his sleek hair all red instead of the usual blond color.

"I look like the soddin' seventh Weasel," he snarled upset.

His red hairdo wasn't even the best part of her plan. She already grinned by the thought of Malfoy trying to find some spell to undo the hair color. The perfect thing was that she didn't use any magic this time. She simply had switched his shampoo with hair dye. After many times of hair washing, it would wear off eventually, but it surely was going to be fun watching him trying to find ways to break the supposedly hex.

Malfoy however found it a lot less amusing. Out of anger he pulled his wand out of his robe. He started to mumble words so softly that she couldn't hear what he was saying.

"What are you do-?" Hermione asked startled. Then she saw at what he was pointing to, "Crookshanks!"

Before she could do anything to save her beloved pet from being hexed, the cat started to become bigger than he already was. The ginger-haired cat swelled so much that even his normal squashed head was developing normal features. Hermione looked scared at Malfoy. He wasn't going to explode her pet, right?

"Stop that!" she screamed horrified.

Suddenly the cat stopped growing and began to float. Crookshanks moved higher and higher until he finally reached the ceiling of the room. Malfoy had turned the cat in some kind of living balloon! Her poor animal!

_9.06 AM Potions class_

Hastily she sat next to Ron and Harry. She had desperately tried some spells to make Crookshanks return to his usual self, but she didn't have enough time to undo the hex. The first lesson of this day was potions and Snape surely wouldn't take this as a well-founded excuse to be late for his class. Regretfully she had left Crookshanks, putting a wire, which was tied to the couch, on his collar, to make sure he wouldn't fly out of the window. She had put some food and water on the top of a closet, knowing almost completely sure that the cat would be smart enough to float there, when he wanted to.

She was looking forward to seeing Malfoy sitting in the classroom with his red hair, but he even ruined that for her. Malfoy was such a wuss. He had put on a hat, so that no one could see his fierce new red-haired look.

After Snape had been his usual cold self, extracting points and making the life of some students (of course no students from Slytherin) miserable, he finally had given them instructions to make a boring potion that could cure coughing.

When Malfoy's potion was being examined by Snape and she had been absolutely confident Snape or the other Slytherin students weren't paying attention to her, she hexed the percolating cauldron. The liquid in the cauldron immediately exploded, right in the faces of Malfoy and Snape. They both looked flabbergasted for a moment. Subsequently Snape returned in his strict Professor's role and he was looking anything but delighted.

Hermione grinned. Malfoy had finally failed in potions class, his best class. That would teach him for hurting Crookshanks!

_11.59 AM Great Hall_

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry stared at her and he wasn't the only one. Almost everyone sitting at the table was looking at her as well.

"What?"

"Your eating habits are today even worse than Ron's ."

Taking in Harry's words, she horrifyingly noticed the chicken leg that she was holding in her hands and how greasy her mouth was. Immediately she realized that Harry was right. For some reason she had been so incredibly hungry, when she arrived at the lunch table in the Great Hall. Her hunger had been so great that she hadn't bothered to use any of the cutlery, instead she had crammed the food. In fact, this already had been the fourth whole chicken she was eating and she was still craving for more.

"I just had this incredible urge to…" she tried to explain her behavior, but as soon as she had spoken the words, she could already guess what her problem was, or better said whom her problem was.

She gazed at the Slytherin table, where Malfoy was having a lot of fun with his friends. They obviously were laughing at her.

"Accio," she said, doing the one thing that already had been in her head for a while.

Malfoy's convenient hat came flying towards her, revealing his red hair in front of everyone. He hurrily tried to find something that would cover up his hair, but it was already too late. A gulf of laughter and shock went through the room as the students noticed his new hair color.

She caught his angry gaze at her and she smiled evilly back to him.

_7.16 PM First floor girls bathroom_

Hermione tried to straighten her hazel brown hair that was almost as messy as it had been in her first year. In Ghoul studies the teacher had told them about a frightening, bloody ghost that haunted women until they died out of horror. Somehow Malfoy had managed to create a copy of the ghost and she had been scared to death. Not to mention the reaction to her hair. It got wild, like it had been electrified. With her Gryffindor bravery she had overcome the fake ghost, making it disappear and she wishfully hoped that the transparent figure would never return again.

In return she had sent Malfoy a ghost that would yell in his face every five minutes. He already had been half deaf before he found a way to fight off the ghoul.

Now she was putting up her hair in front of the mirror in the bathroom. She was getting ready for the dancing lesson. She had to look good for Malfoy, because she wanted to give him the impression that all his hexes didn't have any effect on her. When she was satisfied with her appearance, she headed to classroom 1B.

Professor Trelawney and Malfoy were already in the classroom, when she arrived. Trelawney told them right away to get in their dancing position.

Malfoy hesitantly put his one hand on her side, while he took her hand in his other hand. It was a bit strange for them to touch each other. Hermione always had thought that Malfoy's grip could only be harsh and rough, but his touch was surprisingly soft and tender now.

As the dancing began, it became a whole different story though. He kept stepping on her feet and she wasn't quite sure whether he did it on purpose or he kept doing it, because he still had some hearing problems from his earlier encounter with the ghoul and he couldn't understand any of Trelawney's instructions.

After a while Hermione got tired of her feet being ill-treated, so she started to step on his feet as well. Malfoy was caught by surprise by her sudden actions and he stumbled over her feet. Before she could do anything he took her with him in his fall.

Wonderingly she suddenly found herself lying on the floor with Malfoy on top of her. She gazed into his big, light-colored eyes, closely observing his facial features. There was something about his eyes. They seemed deep and hidden with… pain? Sorrow? She had to admit that he was handsome, even with the red hair he had now. Maybe if she hadn't know about his evil core, she would have been attracted to him.

"This will never work!" Malfoy complained, while he got up.

"It's all going to be alright, I've already seen it," Trelawney contradicted him, "It's going to be a wonderful night for you both. A very special night."

Yeah, right. Like that was going to happen. Hermione didn't believe one word that came out of the mouth of the female teacher. The wrench was always making up predictions, usually involving a lot of blood and death. Although Trelawney didn't speak of any misfortunes this time, it didn't mean she was going to be right.

_10.45 PM Head Common room_

"All of that happened today? In one day?" Ginny stared unbelievingly at Hermione.

"Yes, actually it was an easy day compared to the other days of this week. I think Tuesday was the worst, when I turned him into a troll and he knocked me out with his disgusting smell."

"Yes, I've heard about that. I wish I could have seen it… not smell it though."

They both laughed. Then Ginny's expression changed into a more serious one.

"Will you be a bit careful?" the red-headed girl asked, "It all sounds a bit… obsessive."

"I have it all under control, don't worry. It will all be over soon. He will have enough soon."

"Just make sure no one gets hurt… like him," Ginny pointed to Crookshanks who was still flying in the air.

"Yes, I'm still trying to fix him."

"I'd better get to my room before it gets too late," Ginny noticed the time, "Talk to you soon, 'kay?"

Hermione nodded, while she let her friend out. She gave her floating cat a comforting pet, promising to unhex him soon.

The words of the youngest Weasly rang in her head. Obsessive. She wasn't obsessed. Okay, maybe she had gotten a little bit caught up in all the hexes lately, but it was all for a good cause. Maybe she devoted a lot of her time, nightly and daily, with coming up with hexes and trying to undo hexes, but it was justified. She was standing up for herself and for her Head room.

It wasn't like she was obsessed with Malfoy. Sure, she thought about him a lot and she enjoyed hexing him, especially when she saw his face clouding and his grey eyes enlarging. And most of all she liked his pale skin turning into a light pink color, when he was embarrassed. So she knew all of his facial expressions, his mannerisms and the curses he muttered in his breath. But that wasn't obsessed, right?

Not completely reassured, Hermione went to her bedroom, thinking she should find a dictionary the next day and look up the word 'obsessed' to be completely sure she wasn't that. She decided to get some good rest before a new day of charms and curses would begin. However, as soon as she lay on her bed, the bed instantly collapsed and she landed on the hard floor.

"Malfoy!"

_A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. I had fun writing it :) My college is starting again, well actually it already started last week, but now I actually have to do stuff ;), so updates are going to be a bit slower. Don't worry, don't read this message as I'm too busy now and will never update again. It just means that I'll update once a week instead of twice a week. So don't panic if I don't update within four days :P Have a nice weekend all and give me a review if you can. I love reading them :D_


	5. The Heads' speech

_A/N: Wow, so many reviews. You all make me speechless. Good thing I still have my writing voice ;) Every review made me so happy, yay! :D Thank you,_

_-wolvesdrinktea: No, no tonsil-tennis yet and no regular tennis either. Interesting nickname by the way ;)_

_-hp1234567fan: Nice of you to review multiple chapters in once :) Malfoy not much loved? He is in my universe :P_

_-krista04: I know what you mean. __If I could use magic, __I would try all kind of hexes on everyone and probably get expelled immediately. Oh well, at least I had fun XD_

_-paysonalison42: Thank you for noticing that :) I will try to keep it up._

_-PollyRawwr: Yes, college is indeed exhausting. I already have an upcoming test this thursday and I also have to make a paper. It's like torture!_

_-karina349: I'm glad that I made you laugh :D Weekly updates and hopefully weekly laughs for you!_

_-Just Your Above Average Malfoy: Yes, I like Draco breaking Hermione's stuff as well, as long as it isn't her heart._

_-callmemudblood: I remember your name too :P Uhm... it was not an immediate update, but it is at this moment ;)_

_-dandelion: Another multiple chapter reviewer! Hurray! Read and see what will happen next..._

_-BeccatheGryffindorPrincess: Wow, the mysterious identity of the anonymous reviewer has finally been revealed! Thanks for still following the story. :)_

_Ten reviewers. I'm going to give you all an official warning! If I get more reviewers for a chapter, I will have to give you PM's, (no not PMS, don't be scared), because my author's note is starting to get larger than the actual story, because of my thanklist, which is a bit weird XD Also, more reviewers means that I'm trying harder to make the story the best as I can. The pressure! XD Anyway, (hopefully) enjoy this chapter!_

**Chapter 5 The Heads' speech**

Hermione nervously gathered her papers. She stood in front of a class full of prefects, who were all looking at her. After the end of each semester they had a prefect meeting, in which the Heads and the prefects would discuss the most common problems students faced and which places of Hogwarts were too dangerous for students to hang out at.

Searchingly she walked towards the door. Where was the Head Boy? The meeting already should have started a few minutes ago. Malfoy wasn't going to ruin the prefect meeting by not coming, right? Well to be truthful, she could imagine him doing about anything just to piss her off. Their war of hexes had been going on for three weeks now and Malfoy seemed to be capable of going very far. She had no idea where he would draw the line.

She didn't want to lead the meeting all by herself. She had only prepared her own part and she didn't know the specifics of the topics Malfoy was going to discuss. As the Head Girl she had wanted to go through every aspect of the meeting topics together, but he had consistently refused to share any of his preparations with her. He had told her many times that if they did, she probably would take over his part like the little miss-know-it-all she was.

Just when she decided that she had to close the door and start the meeting herself, the blonde – yes, he had gotten his normal hair color back a week ago - Slytherin entered the classroom. He showed no signs of being sorry about being late. Quite the contrary, he had his usual arrogant smile on his face.

"The wonderful Malfoy and I want…" Hermione tried to officially begin the meeting.

Wait. What did she just say? Wonderful. Malfoy. Wonderful Malfoy? That weren't two words that were meant to be in the same sentence.

"I mean the ultimately handsome Malfoy…" She stopped again. Why was she saying these things?

Suspiciously she looked at Malfoy who had a huge grin on his face. What had he done to her this time? Courageously she tried to continue to run the meeting.

"We welcome you for attending this meeting. The absolutely adorable Malfoy will first discuss the topic of the staircase on the fifth floor that sometimes seems to lead to a chimaera. After the gracious and holy Malfoy is done, I will point out the other main complaints of students. At the end there will be room for questions. I will now give the floor…to him. "

She pointed to Malfoy. She didn't want to say another embarrassing thing that resulted in praising the Head Boy.

"Well, thank you, Miss Granger. I appreciate your nice words, but I don't think this is the appropriate time nor place to show your affections," Malfoy seemed to say seriously for the unwary spectator. She, however, could clearly discover the mischievous sparkle in his eyes, knowing that his words were dripping of sarcasm.

"You're so incredibly perfect," she muttered, meaning to say something completely different than the actual words that came out of her mouth. She sat defeated on a chair, while Malfoy started with his presentation.

Great. She couldn't say his name without using a complimentary adjective and every time she wanted to insult him, there would only come nice terms out of her. He must have used some kind of admiration spell, making her only say things that were in his benefit.

If he wanted to mess with speech, so could she. She remembered a spell from a book she had read a while ago. Without any hesitation she pointed her wand under the table in his direction and said: " Vox femina."

"Especially the chimaera's tail that is a snake causes problems. The bite of the snake can be very poisonous… poisonous…"

Malfoy's voice started to sound as high-pitched as a four year old girl. He cleared his throat and tried to speak in his normal voice again, "but if it's… treated…within…" Nevertheless he failed miserably.

"Granger will elaborate this now," he said hastily, probably hoping that no one would notice the sudden change in his voice if he spoke rapidly enough.

Hermione frowned. If he thought he was getting out of this so easily, he had thought wrong. For the second time she raised her wand and casted another spell aimed at his feet. Immediately he tripped and fell on the ground.

She would have thought, he would get up instantly, but to her surprise he kept lying on the ground, not moving one inch.

Why wasn't he getting up? Surely he was overreacting, right? She had only used a simple stumbling spell. He couldn't possibly get any real damage from that.

As he lay there, the other prefects started to worry. Some of them got up from their seats and walked towards Malfoy to see what was going on. Hermione was also getting worried and sat next to Malfoy on the ground. She never meant for him to get hurt.

"Are you all right, sexy Malfoy?" Hermione asked a bit concerned and a bit distrustfully.

There came no answer. His eyes were closed, his skin was pale and he still hadn't moved. It was a strange, scary sight to see him lying helplessly on the floor.

"Someone get Madam Pomfrey!" a prefect from Ravenclaw yelled.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"I'm here to see the most amazing Malfoy," Hermione said trembling to the nurse of Hogwarts. The admiration spell still hadn't worn off, but she could care less about that hex right now. She still couldn't believe what had happened at the prefects' meeting. Malfoy was brought to the hospital wing half an hour ago, where Poppy Pomfrey had asked all of them to leave, so that she could examine him in silence.

Hermione had been anxious for the full thirty minutes. If something terrible had happened, it would be her fault.

"He's right in the back."

Hesitantly Hermione walked in the direction of Malfoy's bed. She wasn't quite sure if he even wanted to see her. He'd probably rather have his Slytherin friends visiting him than seeing her face. After all she was the one responsible for his suffering. And it wasn't like they were friends who would be there for each other when things got rough. Actually to be precise, they were the ones who made times rough for each other.

But Hermione couldn't not come. She had to make sure he was doing alright. Besides she had gotten sort of attached to him in the last month. Of course, not the kind of attachment she had with her friends or even with her cat Cookshranks, but another form. She had tried to label it and the best definition she had come up till now was that he was her cactus. He was a cactus that stung her every day and she knew she had to throw him out sooner or later, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to do that yet. She had gotten too used to him for him not be there.

She arrived at Malfoy's sickbed, where she saw him lying, all covered up with white blankets. He looked so vulnerable.

"Granger," he said weakly, noticing her presence. She observed him closely, he didn't seem to mind that she had come here to visit him.

"How are you?" she asked as she sat down on a chair next to the bed.

"Pretty good for a dead guy."

"What do you mean?"

"Your little hex has paralyzed my legs. I can't walk."

She stared at him in utter shock. He couldn't walk anymore? How could a small hex like a tripping spell have such a big effect?

"But they're going to heal you, right? You're going to be all right?"

"No, Pomfrey isn't even sure if I'm going to make it."

"That can't be. There has to be some way to reverse it. I'll go through all the books and I will find a cure," she said determined.

"I don't think there is such a thing," he turned her head way from her, not wanting to look at her.

Hermione decided she would do research anyway, even if he had no hope she would find something to heal him. This was all her fault and she wasn't going to let him die. There was just no way. She never meant to do him any real harm, she only wanted to win from him, showing that she was the master of the hexes. This whole rivalry between them had gone too far.

"I'm so sorry, precious Malfoy," she softly stroked his forehead, hoping it would bring some comfort. Although she highly doubted that the small gesture would mean anything to him. It would be a miracle if he ever would forgive her for what she had done to him. Malfoy seemed to be a bit startled when she touched him, but he gave in and let her go on with it.

They sat in silence for a while. Hermione had no idea what to say. Nothing she would say could make things better. She just wished she could go back in time and never had casted the spell in the first place.

"Granger, could you do something for me?" Malfoy suddenly asked, "I've been thinking about it a lot lately. It's just something that has been bothering me for a long time. It would really mean a lot to me if you did this one thing for me."

"Anything," she said immediately, patiently waiting for his request.

"When it's night and no one can see you, could you go to Potter and Weasley's room and chop both of their heads off? I'm so tired of seeing those ill-figured Gryffindors."

"What?"

"For Merlin's sake, Granger! You're so incredibly gullible," Malfoy smirked, while he got up from the bed, revealing that he was still wearing his normal robe underneath, "You should have seen your face! You almost looked like you cared."

_"Stupid ferret, you're not funny!"_, she had wanted to yell offended, after she realized that he had tricked her. However the spell was still working and all that she could utter was: "You're hilarious, adonis with the golden locks."

He laughed.

"Shouldn't you know by now you can never trust a Slytherin?"

She gazed at him in disbelief. He had been pretending this whole time, just to mess with her head? He was truly unbelievable. How could he do such a thing? Sickness and health wasn't something to make jokes about. Angrily she decided she had to be more careful from now on. She wasn't going to let him play with her emotions like that again.

"Priceless," she heard him mumbling in the distance, while he left the Hospital wing.

_A/N: For all of you who are wondering, a chimeara is mythological creature. Google it if you want to see a picture._

_Hehe, Draco is so devious, but oh well even he can't always be mean and the hexing can't go on forever. So next chapter, there will be some changes, because then it will all be about the ball! Till next weekend :)_


	6. The ball part I

_A/N: Wow, ten reviewers again :) This is going very well! My thanks to all my reviewers, from the old loyal ones to the new ones,_

_-krista04: You review fast :P Yes, it will have some consequences..._

_-wolvesdrinktea: I hope you've made an amazing recovery and are on your feet again! I like how you take full advantage of your sickness hehe. I love dances as well :) Yes, everything is fine here. No complaints, thanks for asking._

_-XxBlackShadowMagicxX: Yes, Malfoy is sexy XD Maybe it was more appropriate to call it a truth spell than an admiration spell ;)_

_-Just Above Your Average Malfoy: I also think that chimearas are cool. Lol, I can definitely see the resemblance between you and Draco. You would fit perfectly in the Malfor Manor XD_

_-BeccatheGryffindorPrincess: At least Hermione wasn't the only one to believe him, that will comfort her to hear that ;) Thank you for saying it shows their true characters :)_

_-the blibbering humdinger: I really don't understand what your name means, but thanks :) I like to give people all kind of emotions, so scared and laughing is a good sign ;)_

_-eliizilla-rawr: I will :)_

_-PollyRawwr: You're in college now too? One week it's full of papers, the next week I don't have to do anything. Those teachers should really take a course in planning ;) _

_-karina349: I hope it didn't hurt too much, I should have put a laughing warning in advance XD I think Hermione was already embarassed enough by just believing him, so she still has some dignity now ;)_

_-fanfictw23: Very glad to hear you think that :) No more waiting! The update is here now! :)_

**Chapter 6 The ball part I**

"Give me back my tie!" Malfoy screamed.

It was the night of the ball and Hermione had been looking forward to it, despite the fact that she had to dance with Malfoy to open the event. She had put up her hair again and she was wearing a long, light blue dress. All in all she thought she looked pretty fine, when she stared at herself in the mirror.

She actually hadn't really planned on going with someone to the dance, but to her surprise Ron had asked her this morning to go with him. It was a little last minute, but when she saw how his face got all red, she realized he probably had been too nervous to ask her before. She really liked Ron. They had been friends for years and it was easy to talk to him. Maybe they would be more than friends someday. She wasn't quite sure yet. She was just going to see how the evening would play out.

Of course Malfoy had been his annoying self as she had prepared for the ball. Their hex fight had been going on for two months now, much longer than Hermione had thought when she started it.

After Malfoy had made one of her heels disappear, she had turned his tie into a snake that was now tickling his neck. After many frantic efforts, he finally got a hold of the snake and threw it on the floor.

She had made sure that the snake wasn't poisonous and couldn't do any other form of harm. Malfoy had scared her, when he had pretended to have an incurable condition. Their hexes had still been going on, but she had been extra careful, not wanting to do anything that could really damage the blonde Head Boy.

Hermione knew Malfoy would respond with a counter attack, so she rapidly grabbed her wand and aimed it at him. At the same time Malfoy pointed his wand at her and invoked an incantation.

At once Hermione found herself standing next to Malfoy, holding his hand instead of seeing the snot coming out of his nose, like she had expected to see since she had used a Bat-Bogey hex. To her surprise her heel had returned, through which she suddenly stood straight up again, and the snake had turned back into the normal silver tie it had been before.

"Let go of my hand!" Malfoy yelled.

"I can't," she said, while she tried to pull her hand out of his, "It's like stuck or something."

"What kind of ridiculous hex did you use this time?"

"Do you really think I would use a spell so I would be forced to hold your hand?"

Malfoy looked angrily into her eyes and then apparently decided that she really hadn't to do anything with this: "So if you didn't do this and neither did I, then what is this?"

Thoughts raced through her head. Maybe they had evoked some kind of special hex by using two spells at the same time. That could happen sometimes. She wasn't really confident about it though.

"I'll have to look it up in books," she finally said.

"Books! Books! Seriously, Granger? The ball will start in fifteen minutes."

"Then we have to go to Dumbledore," she suggested, realizing Malfoy had been right and they didn't have time to do research now.

"I don't want to go to that crazy, old fool," Malfoy protested.

"Do you rather want to be holding my hand all night, when everyone can see us?"

"Fine, we'll go to the loon, " he grumbled, taking his wand with him, "But if anyone sees us walking in the hallway, I will poke their eyes out."

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"What is it that you want?" Dumbledore asked them friendly, after she and Malfoy had called out many names of sweets so that they could get in the principal's office.

"This is the problem!" Malfoy shouted frustrated, holding up his hand that was intertwined with hers.

"It was about time," Dumbledore concluded, not seeming to be surprised at all by the sight, "You two must be scared of the reactions of others. Draco, if you want I will have a talk with your parents. I will try to convince them how normal a relationship between a pure-blood and a muggleborn is…"

"I told you he was insane," Malfoy whispered to Hermione.

"W-we're not together, professor," Hermione interrupted the Head Master, "Our hands got glued to each other somehow. We hoped you would know how we could be separated again."

"Of course, of course…excuse me for the mistake. I must have eaten too many lemon drops this morning," Dumbledore explained, although Hermione had the feeling he didn't mean anything of it, " What were you doing when this happened?"

"We were hexing each other," Hermione answered uncomfortably. It wasn't really a fact you proudly announced to your Head Master.

"Exactly how many spells did you two use?"

"Maybe three or four or something," Malfoy obviously lied.

"Three hundred fifty-four…" Hermione confessed, not capable of withholding the correct information from their Head Master, while she ignored the angry gaze Malfoy was giving her, "I used three hundred fifty-four hexes and he used three hundred fifty-two."

A bit scared she looked up to Dumbledore, hoping he wasn't going to be mad at them, now she had told the truth.

"That's pretty impressive," the old man said calmly, to her relief, "At least I can tell the school inspector the course Charms teaches our students more than enough… With relation to your problem, I think your hexing has caused the Hayley Aadan effect."

"Hayley Aadan effect?" Hermione asked worried. She had never heard about that before.

"A long time ago there was a woman, Hayley Aadan, who had two sons. No matter where they went or what time of the day it was, the two sons would always fight with each other. Hayley did everything in her power to make their quarreling stop, but no punishment or reward seemed to work. Worried that her two boys would never be able to get along with each other, she desperately glued their hands together in a final attempt to punish them. After a few hours Hayley tried to wash off the glue and separate the boys again, but somehow the glue didn't come off. Hayley's desperation was so great, that she had enchanted the glue without knowing. It wasn't until the sons realized how foolish their fighting had been and they both had expressed their regret towards each other that the spell finally broke and the glue came off."

"So I have to make up with Granger?" Malfoy tried to interpret the story.

"It would be wise, but not necessary. The Hayley Aadan effect occurs nowadays, when two wizards use too many hexes at each other in a small amount of time. Usually the effect only lasts like one hour. However, since the number of hexes used determines how long the effect will last, I suspect that with you two, it will take a whole night before it wears off."

"So we're going to be stuck like this the whole evening?" Hermione asked unbelievingly. Out of all nights, why did this had to happen at the night of the ball? At any other night, it still would be a disaster, but at least then they would have the opportunity to hide in their Head Common Room, where no one could see them.

"I think it will be an appropriate punishment for you," a naughty smile appeared on Dumbledore's face, "I'm afraid the next time that you're hexing each other I will have to take much stricter penalties. Personally I think that practicing is a good thing, but I don't think that a lot of parents of the students here would agree with my policy, when the Head Boy and Head Girl can practice freely how to murder each other."

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Reluctantly Hermione walked with Malfoy to the Slytherins common room. He had to pick up Pansy, who was apparently his date for tonight, and Hermione had only agreed to come along so that Malfoy would come with her to Ron as well.

Malfoy walked pretty fast, probably still hoping that in that manner only a few people would catch a glimpse of them both holding hands. Fortunately Pansy was already waiting in front of the door, so that they didn't have to enter the Slytherin room. Hermione felt a bit relieved that she didn't have to face a whole group of Slytherins in this state.

Pansy looked at them very annoyed.

"I've been waiting forever," the girl whined, then she looked disgusted at their hands, "What is that?"

"It's some sort of dumb hex. We have to hold hands," Malfoy explained, while Hermione remained silent. She refused to speak to Pansy, their relationship of dislike towards each other had gotten worse after she had casted the kissing charm on Malfoy, that had affected Pansy in a very unflattering way.

"I'm not going to be your date if that filthy Mudblood is glued to you. I might catch something!" Pansy shrieked dramatically.

The Slytherin girl walked away angrily, leaving Hermione standing flabbergasted in the hallway. Malfoy, however, seemed to be a lot less surprised. Just when Hermione wanted to say something to comfort him –sort of anyway-, Malfoy simply shrugged it off and didn't seem to be affected at all by Pansy's reaction.

Silently – not counting the protesting grumbling of Malfoy - they walked to the Head Common room, where Ron was waiting for her. He smiled happily when he saw her.

" 'Mione, there you are. I already thought that…" Ron abruptly stopped talking when he noticed the contact of hands between her and Malfoy, "Why are you two holding hands?"

"Granger decided she rather wanted a date who has more than one Knut in savings," Malfoy sneered.

Surprised by the comment Hermione looked from the Head Boy to Ron who looked like he was about to explode.

"Ron, he's lying!" Hermione intervened, trying to prevent a fight between the two young men, "We used too many hexes at each other and now we're magically forced to hold hands."

"Really?" Ron asked a bit relieved.

"Yes, I'm telling the truth."

"Or is she? Maybe she's just too scared to tell you," Malfoy devilishly added.

"Just ignore him, Ron," Hermione rapidly said, seeing that Ron's head got redder again from fury.

Hermione sighed. Her red-haired friend still seemed to be a bit suspicious and Malfoy seemed to enjoy himself pretty good, seeing all the opportunities he had now to piss off the youngest Weasley son. She really hoped they wouldn't fight with each other tonight.

At this moment Hermione truly hated professor Trelawney and knew for sure the woman was a talented fraud. The professor had predicted that the night of the ball would be nice and special. Now that Hermione was stuck to Malfoy, she knew for certain that the whole evening was going to be horrible. What could possibly happen that would made the night special?

_A/N: Actually the ball hasn't even started yet in this chapter XD But the chapter got so long that I had to divide it in two parts in order to make my weekly update :)_

_Anyway, a forced date with two guys! :D Every girl's dream... probably not of Hermione now though hehe. I hope you all have a good weekend without homework or other boring obligations and next Saturday we will meet again ;)_


	7. The ball part II

_A/N: New chapter. Here it is :) Again ten reviews, you people are consistent lol. Not that I'm complaining, on the contrary it's already much more than I expected from the beginning :) Thanks to my reviewers:_

_-wolvesdrinktea: I love Dumbledore too, but he is hard too write. A car crash? Wow, you have something special every week. Everything alright? I hope this week was more pleasant for you. :)_

_-No account not getting one: No, it takes some more chapters for them to fall in love. Five out of five? Thank you! :)_

_-Dramamonkey: Lol, everyone really seems to like the admiration spell. How the story will develop... erm, I think it will be a bit less humor and more romantic kind of. But read on and find out for yourself :)_

_-krista04: Haha, that would be a funny sight if they would be dancing with the four of them, tripping all over. XD Yeah, Draco definitely likes Rons bashing. ;)_

_-PollyRawwr: Photoshop? I've never heard before that you use that in college for projects. I only have to use simple, boring word XD I hope college is going alright for you. :)_

_-Just Your Above Average Malfoy: And what a night it will be... hehe :D_

_-Leviosascarlett166: I've thought you stopped reading. Thanks for still following the story. :)_

_-XxBlackShadowMagicxX: Yes, Hermione must have some kind of disease to not want to hold hands with Draco. It's the only possible explanation for this incredibly irrational behaviour of hers. ;)_

_-Tanya-is-terrific: Yeah, sexy and devillish Malfoy, the two characteristics that make him irresistible. It's just how I like him too :)_

_-julescapulet: The update is here! :) Yes and more chapters to come as well, don't worry._

**Chapter 7 The ball part II**

This was akward. Very awkward. Hermione sat uncomfortably between Ron and Malfoy, wiggling her feet.

She had danced with Malfoy to open the ball. It had been quite an ordeal since the hold of their hands didn't match with their dancing positions. They had to improvise and Hermione had no idea how, but somehow they had managed to pull off a reasonable dance.

After her nerves finally had calmed down, she had even found herself getting lost in the dance. Now that they hadn't been hexing each other, Malfoy had been a gracious dance partner, who knew exactly how to lead her. The dance slowly had become an automatic process, in which she floated lightly above the dance floor. She had been excited, but not scared, because she was strangely assured that he wouldn't let her fall. Even though it was Malfoy she was dancing with.

She actually had been sad when the dance was over. She had wanted to continue the whole night, but well, that would give the wrong impression to her friends and furthermore she would never admit to Malfoy that she really enjoyed dancing with him.

After the dance Ron had been in her and therefore Malfoy's presence the whole time, which made the atmosphere tense. The two boys had been making insults at each other until Hermione couldn't take it anymore and told them both to shut their mouths. Thereafter they had been sitting in complete silence, which was awkward. Especially since everyone else at the ball seemed to be having a lot of fun with dancing, laughing and talking.

"Ron, would you like to dance with me?" Lavender asked, who suddenly stood in front of them.

"Do you mind?" Ron asked permission to Hermione.

"No, just go," Hermione said a bit disappointed. She didn't really like her date dancing with somebody else, but it wouldn't be fair to forbid Ron to dance just because she wasn't able to dance. She couldn't dance with him, because she was stuck with Malfoy. Three is a crowd, in particular if you wanted to dance with two guys who hated each other.

"Great. Right after the one ugly Gryffindor leaves, another one comes. If I go blind after looking at so many Gryffindors right in the face in one night, you're going to have to pay for it," Malfoy muttered, while he tried to turn his back at her, as far as he could.

Hermione looked wonderingly whom Malfoy had meant. Quickly, she already saw who was heading towards them. It was Harry. She had been so caught up with her preparations for the ball and the inconvenient situation with Malfoy that she hadn't seen him all day.

Harry sat next to her. Ginny was probably getting drinks or going to the bathroom, because Hermione didn't see her anywhere near Harry.

"Sorry about your unfortunate… situation," Harry referred to her holding hands with Malfoy.

"Yes, hopefully it will be over soon," she said loudly, making sure that Malfoy could hear her. He had been complaining the whole time and she wanted to let him know she wasn't enjoying this either.

"He finally succeeded after all," Harry smiled.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, not understanding what her friend was talking about.

"Ron. For the last couple weeks he has been trying to ask Lavender to go with him to the ball, but she kept refusing him. But he somehow must have persuaded her. They're dancing together now."

"… Right," Hermione faked a smile, feeling anything but cheery right now. She couldn't believe her ears. Ron had been asking out Lavender before he had asked her?

How could she had missed all this information? To be frank, she probably had been spending too much time with Malfoy and trying to hex him the last months. She still had spent time with Harry and Ron, but not as extensively as she had done in the previous years.

"I have to go, but I talk to you later tonight, okay?" Harry said when Ginny appeared in the room. As soon as he said the words, he got up from his seat and walked into the direction of his date.

Hermione looked angrily into the crowd, seeing Ron dancing with Lavender in the distance. He was indeed dancing with a goofy, happy smile on his face.

The redhead had done it again, just like in the fourth year. She had been his second choice to go to the ball with, well, maybe not even his second choice. Who knows who else he had asked as well before he had asked her? Maybe she even had been his last resort, the last choice he had.

How could he have done that to her? Again? She felt betrayed and used and most of all sad. All she wanted now was to leave. Leave from this ball that was better described as a living nightmare for her.

"I want to go back to the Head chambers," she whispered to Malfoy, feeling a bit sick.

"We've only been here for an hour."

"Could we just go?" she asked him, almost imploringly.

She had expected Malfoy to contradict her or ask her questions, but luckily he only nodded his head and they sneaked out, without anyone noticing their departure. Swiftly they arrived at the Head Common room, where it was dark and quiet in contrast to the ball. This new environment fitted her mood perfectly.

"What do you want to do?" Malfoy asked.

"I don't feel like doing anything."

Hermione let herself fall on the couch, feeling very exhausted. Not having much of a choice, Malfoy sat beside her on the red couch on her side of the room.

With his wand he magically let a bottle of firewhiskey appear. After a couple of failed attempts to uncork the bottle with using only one hand, he finally managed to open the bottle with another spell. He offered her to take a sip, but she shook her head as a sign of refusal. She wasn't one to drink, especially not with Malfoy.

"You're too smart for him anyways," Malfoy suddenly said.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's obvious you're upset about the Weasley. Don't really understand why though."

"It's none of your business," she turned her head away from him, not willing to talk with him about her disappointment in Ron.

"Tonight I don't really have a choice. Since I can't hex you anymore I only have your problems to humor me now."

Hermione looked suspiciously at the Headboy, who gulped the firewhiskey straight out of the bottle without any hesitation. Sadly she thought to herself that he probably saw alcohol as the only way he could survive a whole night with her.

"Tell me something you hate about Weasley," he ordered her.

"What?" Hermione asked surprised. What was Malfoy up to now?

"There's got to be one little annoying habit. Spill."

"I can't tell you that. Ron's my frie-"

"You Gryffindors and your loyalty. I can't believe you're all such goody-two-shoes."

"I'm not!" Hermione yelled indignantly. She got really tired of everyone thinking that she was an obedient girl who always did what she was told. She had broken innumerable rules with Ron and Harry in the last couple of years. Not to mention all the school rules she had broken by using all kind of hexes on Malfoy. Why did nobody ever notice her reckless side?

"Alright…" Hermione gave into Malfoy's request, realizing very well he had been manipulating her a little into given an answer. She, however, convinced herself she had every right to answer since she was still very mad at Ron and if Malfoy ever used this information against her, she could always tell he was lying. No one of Gryffindor would believe he was telling the truth anyway.

"I've always thought it was irritating when he wanted my help with his homework. Especially when he asked it at the last minute," Hermione admitted.

"I knew that blockhead could never pass a year without your help," Malfoy exclaimed as if he had done an important discovery.

"One time I was so angry at him that I made a paper for him filled with nonsense. He got a T and when he asked me about it, I said it was an accident," she smiled a little bit, remembering the incident in the second year that she almost had forgotten. It had been a bit mean, but, well, he just should have made his own homework.

"Maybe there is some hope for you yet," Malfoy smirked.

Hermione couldn't help to feel a tad satisfied with Malfoy's approval, which was weird for her. Why would she even care about what Malfoy thought of her?

"Aren't you hurt?" she asked Malfoy in return, who looked very confused by her question. Hermione clarified: "About Pansy, she didn't want to be your date anymore, because of our... condition."

"I never hurt," he stated coldly. A typical Malfoy answer, Hermione thought to herself.

"So you don't want to say anything you find annoying about Pansy?"

"Everything about Pansy is annoying from her pink, fuzzy slippers to her face that is liverish twenty-four hours a day."

"If you dislike her so much, why do you date her?"

"You're so naive, Granger. I'm not dating her. We only hang out when we want to. Not every relationship is based on some mushy kind of love like you think it ought to be. I only have relationships based on status, those are the only ones that are healthy. Emotional attachments are only inconvenient and make you weak."

"You do not have relationships based solely on status, you're not that cold that you don't care about anyone. You care about your parents," she contradicted him. She was the last to think highly of him, but she didn't think he was a heartless person who didn't have any feelings.

"We're bound by blood."

Not completely satisfied with his answer, she went on: "You care about your friends. When someone convinced Goyle that you would get immortality from petting a runespoor and he ended up in the hospital wing with a broken arm, you visited him. You threatened anyone who wanted to make fun of him. And when Pansy had green pimples, you made sure it was fixed before the next morning, so that no one would see."

"You've been stalking me?" Malfoy asked playfully.

"No I had to observe you closely the last weeks," she tried to explain, "I had to know where you were, because else I couldn't hex you."

"I might not be a walking dictionary like you, but I'm pretty sure consistently following and harassing someone covers the definition of stalking."

"I wasn't stalking you," she said blushing, " Besides you're avoiding my point. You do care about your friends."

"Well, smart-ass, it wouldn't be very good for my reputation if my Slytherin pureblood friends are walking around like total douche bags, making complete fools of themselves, now would it?"

Hermione looked penetratingly at the blonde Head Boy, she wasn't going to give up this easily. She knew she was right and she was going to prove it. Suddenly she remembered his earlier comment that she had found strange at the time, but that made perfect sense to her now. A big smile grew on her face.

"You do care about people. You had compassion for me and that didn't have anything to do with status. In fact, it would only be bad for your status when you were nice to me, a muggleborn."

"What?" Malfoy asked astonished, wondering what she was aiming at.

"You asked me to say something bad about Ron so that I would feel better. You even magically let firewhiskey appear to offer me a drink. I mean, it was all in a very weird way and all, but you didn't want me to be upset," she said triumphantly.

She stared deeply into his eyes and saw how caught he was with surprise by her words. She knew she had been right.

It didn't take him long though to return to his confident self with the arrogant, not caring attitude he pretended to have.

"Granger, you are so drunk," he replied, weakly trying to protest the idea that he would even care the tiniest bit about how she would feel.

Hermione laughed at his poor attempt. It was pretty obvious she hadn't drunk anything that was alcoholic this night. When she laughed, she automatically moved her hand a bit, her left hand that was attached to Malfoy's hand to be precise. The Hayley Aadan effect had been over. She was no longer forced to hold his hand.

Secretly she glanced at Malfoy, seeing if he had noticed as well that the hex had been worn off. Apparently he didn't, as he was still holding her hand.

A strange feeling welled up in Hermione. The whole evening she had been desperately waiting for the moment that she wouldn't be stuck to Malfoy anymore, but now that she could remove her hand again, she didn't want to. His hand felt warm in hers and somehow it comforted her. She decided to hold on to Malfoy's hand and pretend she didn't know the spell was gone.

If she would let go now, she was pretty sure they would never hold hands again, not willingly at least. She might as well make this unusual moment last as long as possible. Even though the real magic had disappeared, his touch felt more magically than ever before.

_A/N: Finally a chapter with them being nice to each other... sort of lol. I'm trying to make it not too cheesy. I hope you all liked it. Let me know and have a nice weekend :)_


	8. Not a Valentine's date

_A/N: Let's summarize the results of the last chapter: Just Above Your Average Malfoy's head exploded, Kate Johnson became a monster and Leviosascarlet166 almost died... I didn't know my story would have such harmful effects XD I'm not going to pay any doctor's bills, just in case you're wondering... lol. Anyway, my thanks to:_

_- Just Above Your Average Malfoy: Let me try to clarify it. Hermione says to Malfoy that he cared about her, because he tried to cheer her up after the disaster with Ron. Malfoy says that she must be drunk to think that, being in denial that he cares about her, while in fact she isn't drunk. Hopefully it makes more sense now. Maybe it became only more confusing after this explanation XD_

_-Kate Johnson: Here's the next chapter... hopefully it will still your hunger for a while ;)_

_-WordWings: Hope to keep you laughing :)_

_-YourLocalIgor: Happy to hear that. I will continue :)_

_-Lemurs366: You have high expectations. I'm feeling the pressure already ;) I will try not to make it a cliche._

_-Lingo10: Yeah, they're sweet together :)_

_-Leviosascarlet166: Aww that's so sweet of you that you're always waiting for my update :). Try to stay alive during this story XD Yes, of course more dramione moments to come!_

_-UmbrellaConfederation: The reviewer being reviewed by another author lol. Funny you're reading my story now :D Update your story and read more ;)_

_-PollyRawrr: Your reviews are always so positive and detailed. I love it :) Wow, you must be very creative to be at the Arts Institute! Yeah, my college's going good... just one paper follows the other, but almost everything is already finished now . So I will finally have some spare time again. Yay! _

**Chapter 8 Not a Valentine's date**

Hermione lay on her red couch with a book in her hands as usual. She had been doing that a lot lately. It had been a few weeks since the ball had taken place.

Ron and Lavender had been officially dating and you could get catch them snogging in every corner of the hallway without much effort. Her anger towards Ron was slowly declining. She never even confronted him with his actions, for which Malfoy had called her completely crazy that she didn't take revenge. The blonde Slytherin had even offered his help to make Ron's life miserable, but she had wisely rejected his offer and decided that Ron never meant to hurt her. It hadn't been his plan to get rejected by Lavender and ask her out instead with the intention to be mean. The redhead just had been the dense boy, as he always had been. He didn't know anything about girls or how to treat them.

Even though she had gotten used to seeing Ron and Lavender together and it didn't bother her that much anymore, she found herself spending less and less time with her friends. Ron had Lavender, Harry had Ginny and she didn't have anyone. It wasn't like they wanted to rub it in her face, but every time she was with them, she felt like the fifth wheel. She couldn't help but feel extremely lonely when she was in their presence.

So instead of being with her friends the whole day, she would go to her room to read. From her books she would always get comfort.

And of course, there was Malfoy. Things had been weird between them after the night of the dance. Since they couldn't really hex each other anymore, because neither one of them wanted to be caught by Dumbledore and face a punishment, they had been sort of polite to each other, which was very strange. Not that she had spoken a lot with the Head Boy the last couple of weeks. Maybe she was mistaken, but it seemed like he was avoiding her. Sometimes she would catch him staring at her, at which he would immediately turn his head away, pretending it never happened. If she didn't know any better, she would describe his looks as concerned.

Hermione hoped that today would be over soon. It was Valentine's day and she didn't like to be reminded at her loneliness. The worst part was that it was a Saturday and there wouldn't be any classes to distract her.

Malfoy stepped out of the bathroom, where he had been quite a while. Hermione had to admit that he looked handsome in his black robe with his blonde hair falling almost in front of his twinkling eyes and his clean-shaved chin. He probably had some fancy date with someone from Slytherin.

"Get your soddin' ass of the couch and come with me," he said to her surprise.

"I already have plans."

"By plans you don't mean reading these mudblood books about depressed women who've been betrayed by several husbands, had two abortions and have an alcohol addiction, right?

Hermione raised offended her eyebrow: "They're not all about that."

"I don't want to be surrounded by fluffy heart-shaped confetti and sticky couples and if I leave you here, you will be sobbing all over and ruin the carpet. So come with me."

"Only if you ask nicely," she tested his patience. She wasn't going to give into his orders like some kind of soldier. If he wanted to spend Valentine's day with her, he had to do some kind of effort. She wasn't going to let him think for one second she was desperately waiting for him.

He glared at her and sighed. Grumbling he asked: "Do you want to come with me?"

Although Malfoy's invitation sounded anything but nice, she nodded. Partially because she knew it had been hard for him to even ask her and partially, because she was wondering where Malfoy would take her.

"What are we going to do? You're going to take me to Madam Puddifoot's Tea Shop?" she asked teasingly, while she got up from the couch. She already laughed by the idea of Malfoy sitting in such a lovely dovey place.

"It's not a date, Granger."

Malfoy leaded her through many hallways and stairs, before they arrived at the statue of a gargoyle. Malfoy told a student who stood near the gargoyle to get lost and to tell all his other friends that this particular pathway was off limits for everyone today. The Hogwarts student obediently followed the Slytherin orders and ran away scared.

Normally Hermione would strictly disapprove of Malfoy taking advantage of his role as Head Boy, but for today she would make an exception.

Malfoy pulled at one of the gargoyle's horns, at which Hermione was pretty sure she heard the gargoyle say 'ouch', and a secret passage appeared. Curiously she followed Malfoy through the new tunnel in front of them, wondering where it would take them. The tunnel was very dark and she tried her best to keep up with Malfoy's pace and don't fall. Noticing the easiness in which the blonde guy made his way through the passage, she was sure he had been here many times before.

After a while the tunnel finally ended and Hermione was glad to see the blue, fresh sky again. They were surrounded by oak trees and in front of them there was a lake with rippling waves. Hermione wanted to continue to follow Malfoy, but to her surprise he stopped here.

"You've taken me to a lake?" she questioned him. She really would have thought he would take her to some tacky, expensive place where the walls were decorated with gold and chandeliers.

"If you want to call it a lake. They dumped so many poisonous waste in here that no one dares to touch the water anymore."

"So you've taken me to a toxic lake?" she asked offended. What was his plan? Did he want to drown her? And was it his backup plan to get her poisoned by the water if the drowning failed?

"No one will come here and bother us," he explained, while he let a blanket appear with his wand, so that they could sit on the ground, "And it's not _that_ bad."

With an incantation he made different figures appear out of the water. Hermione watched intrigued at all the several shapes he was creating. It was a beautiful sight, seeing the many little water drops transforming from one image to another. First he made snowflakes, then there came flowers; daffodils, tulips, lotuses and roses with thorns. Subsequently there followed a snake from Slytherin and an otter, she knew very well.

"That's my patronus," she exclaimed, but Malfoy didn't seem to be surprised at all by that information.

She pointed her wand: "Expecto Patronum." The otter ran through the skies, making contact with the other otter that was made of water. Together with Malfoy she watched the two creatures chasing each other. After the water otter finally burst apart, Malfoy's face darkened.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Malfoy suddenly asked.

"What?"

"About this," he slid up the sleeve of his left arm, revealing the Dark Mark that was burnt in his skin, "You must have seen it sometime, when you were observing me."

Stunned by his sudden openness, Hermione started to stammer, "I-I don't know."

She had noticed the sign a few days before the ball. If she had seen the mark a few months before that, she would have informed Harry, Ron and Dumbledore in a heartbeat for sure. She didn't know exactly why she hadn't told their friends about it. Maybe it was because she had been following Malfoy for so long, knowing his every move in the last two months that she knew he hadn't done anything for Voldemort… at least not yet.

"It's only a mark," she said.

"But you know very well what it means."

"Just because you have a mark, it doesn't mean that you're bound to follow _him_. You still have your own choices and decisions to make."

"I could be dangerous to you, Granger."

"I guess I don't think you will do any real harm. You're an annoying git, but not a ruthless one. Besides if I'm wrong, I will handle you later."

Malfoy stared at her unbelievingly. After a while he shook his head: "I don't know whether you are incredibly smart or incredibly stupid."

"I'm smart, really smart," she smiled with confidence, trying to lighten the mood.

"Wow, arrogance kicked into you."

"Yes, must have gotten it from you," she shot back.

"I'm not arrogant," he said indignantly.

"You're not arrogant?" she laughed aloud, "You're the pinnacle of arrogance. Always ordering other people around, always pretending to be better than everyone around you, always that cocky smirk on your face."

"I can't help it that everyone around me needs my leadership."

"No, that doesn't sound arrogant at all," Hermione remarked sarcastically.

He narrowed his eyes: "And you as the bossy smart-ass surely can't wait to tell me now how I should become a better person."

"I'm not bossy," she contradicted him, "I'm just saying that you could ask politely more often and notice that other people sometimes have better answers than you have."

"And the smirk?" he waited patiently for her to comment on that too.

"I like the smirk. You can keep that," she smiled, which caused him to smile as well, "You're not going to remember any of the advise I just gave you, are you?"

Malfoy grinned: "What I'm going to remember from this conversation is that you are indeed really bossy."

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"So you've survived a whole day with a muggleborn," Hermioned smiled to Malfoy.

After their visit to the lake, they sneaked back into Hogwarts and hid in their Head chamber. They ate, talked and laughed together. She had to admit she had a great time with Malfoy, much more than she could have imagined in advance. She never noticed before how funny he could be with all his sarcastic comments.

"You're not bad for a muggleborn," he replied, at which she smiled.

"What?" he asked.

"You said muggleborn."

"Don't get used to it," Malfoy realized his mistake, "I must have spent so many hours with you that your softness must have rubbed off on me."

"Yes, we…" Hermione looked startled at the old wall clock, "It's already past midnight? We should go to bed."

Malfoy nodded in agreement. Hermione stood up from her seat and walked to her room.

"Granger?"

"Yes."

"You'd better get yourself a date with a Gryffindor suck-up next Valentine's day, because I'm not going to save your sobbing ass next year."

"So this was a date after all?" she commented teasingly.

"You're twisting my words," he reacted frustrated, " I meant to say that we don't have go through the same horror as today if you…"

"Horror?"

"Yes, getting out of Hogwarts, going to the lake, having dinner together…"

"Yes, Malfoy," she interrupted him, knowing what he was trying to say, "I had a great time as well."

She stood on the tip of her toes - he had gotten pretty tall the last years – and pressed her lips gently to his soft cheek. To her delight she saw his pale face becoming a bit pinkish and a smile slowly appearing on his face.

"Goodnight, Malfoy."

_A/N: Next chapter a bit more action again. I'm not good at writing fluffy stuff the whole time XD_


	9. A musical night

_A/N: Whoa! What happened, people? My inbox almost exploded with all your kind reviews! I've never gotten so many reviews for a single chapter before, so I was really really, like really amazed. Well, first I was in shock and then I was amazed and happy haha._

_I've given you all PM's as my thanks... and my author's note is now suddenly very short XD Oh, I couldn't give PM's to E.C Silence and i h h, so thank you two for reviewing as well! It's much appreciated. :)_

_And 95 people have this story on story alert now. I wonder who will be the 100th person to do so..._

_Anyway, on with the story!_

**Chapter 9 A musical night **

Hermione pointed the glowing tip of her wand at his pale face. Hogwarts was such an gigantic building with its many moving staircases, hallways and rooms that it was very hard to find someone in the school. She had feared she was never going to find him until she saw his figure walking in the darkness.

"Where are you going?" she questioned him.

"I'm doing the night patrol, as usual," Malfoy replied, after he blinked a few times to get accustomed to the ray of light that was shining in his face.

"It's already past midnight. You should be done with your round by now."

"Sometimes it gets late."

Suspiciously she observed his movements. Although he seemed to be his dismissive self and his words appeared to be nonchalant, his tense face betrayed his uneasiness with her sudden company. Obviously he wasn't going to budge this easily. Hermione decided to use a new strategy, maybe if she would come clean, he would open up as well.

"I've seen your father's letter," she hinted, hoping he would tell her that she was wrong.

"And?" he asked bluffing, still pretending not to know what she was talking about.

"It wasn't that hard to decipher for me. There's a Death Eater meeting tonight and you're going there," she said bluntly, expecting him to be surprised by her newfound knowledge, but he didn't flinch an inch.

"I'm not. I'm just doing my round."

"Then I'll go with you."

Demonstratively she stood next to him, waiting for him to walk again so that she could follow him. Apparently she was finally getting on his nerves, because he started to lose his cool attitude.

"Granger, if you know what's best for you, you'd better leave me alone," he hissed.

"No, I'm not letting you go to that meeting," she said firmly. It was against all of her beliefs to leave him alone. Even if it would take extreme measures to stop him, she would do it.

Noticing her strong perseverance, he finally admitted his true agenda: "It's not like a fancy tea party you can miss when you don't feel like it. If I don't go there I don't know what they will do to me."

"I can't let you go. I told you I would stop you if I had to," she lifted her wand, "Expelliarmus!"

With a jerk the wand of Malfoy fell out of his hands, falling between the stairs, disappearing in the depths of the castle. Especially in this darkness, it was impossible to see where the wooden stick had landed.

An unarmed Malfoy stared at her, probably wondering what her next move would be. Nervously she was thinking about the same thing. Could she persuade him now with mere words or should she use another spell on him? Should she make him unconscious so that he wouldn't be able to go the meeting anymore? But how should she move his body back to the Head room? And what would Voldemort do to him if he didn't show up? It definitely wasn't going to be pretty, seeing the scared reaction of Malfoy and the ruthless reputation the Death Eaters had.

A strange roar emerged from a floor above them. Hermione looked up, trying to discover what was happening, but she couldn't see a thing. Just when she thought it was nothing, the alarming sound clanked again.

"What was that?" Malfoy asked.

"Maybe it's the chimeara. We should take a look."

Probably because she was the only one with a wand, Malfoy obediently listened to her without any protest. She waited patiently for Malfoy to go up the stairs first. She wasn't going to let him escape in a unwary glimpse. Even though they were anything but on friendly terms right now, they were still the Head Boy and Head Girl and it was their responsibility to make sure that everything in the castle was in good order.

When they arrived on the seventh floor, it wasn't hard to find out where the sound was coming from. It came from a room Hermione never had seen before. Maybe it had just appeared. Anything was possible at Hogwarts.

Now that they were close to the noise, she noted that the sound resembled the barking of a dog.

At Hermione's command Malfoy opened the door and they both entered the room. When they stepped in, the door immediately closed behind them. The room was even darker than the hallway and Hermione tried to see their new surroundings with her wand lightning spell.

Slowly she discovered that there was a great shape lying in front of them. She pointed her wand to it, revealing a fur skin and a wagging tail. As the figure turned and faced them, she immediately recognized the three-headed dog who still had the same scary pointy teeth since their last encounter.

"Fluffy!" she gasped in disbelief. She had hoped they would never meet again. He somehow must have gotten back into the castle after Hagrid had released him in the Forbidden Forest.

"You call that beast Fluffy?" Malfoy remarked surprised.

Fluffy obviously wasn't happy with their visit and seemed to be more than ready to throw them out. Hermione knew there was no time to answer Malfoy. Instead she tried to explain the only remedy she knew for Fluffy:

"You must make music to…"

A blow was handed out at her head, right by her temple. She felt the pain of the sharp nails that had been put in her skin. Her sight became hasty in which all the shapes in front of her lost their contours and colors. She hit the hard brick ground. The cold stones underneath her was the last thing she noticed before everything went black.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Hermione slowly opened her eyes. She softly rubbed her head that was aching. Not only did her head really hurt, but there was also a soft, unusual tune ringing in her ears.

Unsure about the location in which she had woken, she tried to take in her environment. A faint ray of sunlight weakly enlightened the room, showing the brick walls and floor that surrounded the gloomy, grand chamber. Gradually she started to remember what happened the night before. The following and disarming of Malfoy, the weird noise and their encounter with Fluffy.

Startled she recoiled, when she saw the big dog who was still in front of her. Rapidly after that she calmed down again, because she realized that the gigantic beast was in a peaceful deep sleep. Furthermore she noticed the blonde Slytherin, who she had ordered to go into this room, sitting next to the furry animal. Suddenly she realized that the sound she first wrongly had labeled as a ringing noise in her ears was in fact him singing. His voice was raw and faltered, but somehow he managed to keep the melody of the song intact.

"Granger, can you get up?" he sang to her as soon as he saw that she was awake.

She nodded and hurriedly got up from the floor, before she headed to the door. While she opened the door, Malfoy stood up from the ground with great effort. His limping towards her made her notice the deep gash in his right ankle. She took over his singing to keep Fluffy sleeping, as Malfoy finally reached the door and they both could escape from the frightening room.

Malfoy leaned with his body on the door, after they had swiftly closed it, and she could see how exhausted he was.

"What happened?" she asked.

"That fluffy thing broke your wand and then he went after me," he said hoarsely, "You said we had to make music, so the only thing left was singing… all friggin' night."

Confused Hermione stared at him: "But you just could have left the chamber on your own."

"Sometimes you're really oblivious for a smart girl. I couldn't really carry you with me, when my leg is like this."

Her eyes widened of surprise: "You've been singing all night to keep me alive?"

"Granger, don't make a big deal out of it. No wonder everyone believes Potter is a saint, when you're making such little deeds like this sound all heroic."

Even if Malfoy didn't want to admit he had done a good deed for her, she couldn't help but feel deeply touched by his actions, although she still couldn't fully comprehend what just happened. If she had to pick anyone to save her life, she definitely wouldn't have picked Malfoy. From her friends she might have expected them to save her, but not from him.

All of a sudden she remembered the reason why she had been with Malfoy on the night patrol in the first place: his plan to go to the Death Eater's meeting that he now had missed.

"But what about your meeting? What will they do to you?" she asked concerned. She didn't want anything happening to him, especially not on her account.

"I don't know. I'm still alive so…" At once his tone became harsh and cold, "And don't you ever drag me into this place again, you filthy mudblood!"

"What?" she asked, not understanding his sudden change of mood until she heard voices behind her.

"Hermione!" Harry yelled, while Ron wasn't far behind him.

A whole group of Slytherins and Gryffindors approached them. Hermione concluded that it probably already was time for the Potions class to begin, which they always had together with the Slytherins.

"Crabbe, Goyle, help me get to the hospital wing," Malfoy ordered his two strong friends, who immediately did what them was told. Hermione watched as the two podges carried the Head Boy away.

"We were so worried about you. When you missed your first class today, we knew something was wrong," Ron said to her.

"Your head is bleeding. Are you alright?"Harry looked suspiciously to the Head Boy in the distance, "Did Malfoy do something to you?"

"No, he…" Hermione couldn't really understand it herself yet. He hadn't done anything hurtful. He saved her.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

It had been a long day. First she went with Ron and Harry to Madame Pomfrey who took her time to carefully attend her head wound. Then they visited Hagrid to tell him about the return of Fluffy in Hogwarts. The friendly half-giant enthusiastically kept babbling about how cute the three-headed dog was for being homesick to come back to the castle. Eventually he agreed to find a better accommodation for Fluffy than the Forbidden Forest.

Hermione still couldn't believe that the students had mistaken Fluffy for a Chimeara. There were distinguishable differences between them. The panic from meeting the enormous creature must have clouded their judgment.

She walked from the Head Common room to the bedroom of the Head Boy, which she entered after first politely knocking on the door.

"How are you?" she asked, while she sat on a chair next to the bed.

"My ankle was broken, but Madame Pomfrey fixed it, so it's all fine now. Just tired," Malfoy replied who was lying comfortably in his bed, "How about your head? Are all the billions facts you know still in there?"

"Wow, Malfoy, are you actually concerned about my well-being?"

"Just wondering if I have to prepare myself again for you being an annoying wiseacre in our classes."

"Madame Pomfrey healed it. So you'll just have to continue living with my usual self."

"The nightmare!" he acted dramatically, which made her laugh.

Hermione cleared her throat. She wanted to show her gratitude, but it was hard when it came to Malfoy. He didn't really like to talk about the nice things he did for her, it was as if he wanted to pretend it never happened. Maybe he was ashamed that he was helpful to a muggleborn. However this time she couldn't just let it go. He had done something very special for her and she wanted to show her appreciation.

"Malfoy, I want to… what you did last night, it was…" she tried to find the right words, "No one has ever done such a thing for me. Thank you."

"Yeah, I don't know what kind of idiot got into me, but I guess there could be worse things that I could give my voice for."

She smiled to him. At least he accepted her gratitude this time, sort of.

"You're not going to tell anyone, right?" he quickly added, "That would really damage my reputation."

"I won't."

She felt very close to the exhausted guy who looked very vulnerable. An urge welled up in her to take him into her arms and give him a tight hug. _He's a Death Eater. Don't forget he's a Death Eater_, she told herself. He would probably be scared to death if she really tried to hug him, but yet he looked like he needed one...

Hesitantly she addressed the other issue that was difficult to discuss with him, to distract herself from her persistent thoughts: "What happened to the Death Eaters? Did they…"

"I've sent them a message that Dumbledore caught me walking around late at night and that I couldn't get out of Hogwarts anymore without being noticed."

"Are you going to go to the next meeting?"

She deeply stared in his eyes, observing his uneasiness with her question. An awkward silence filled the room. He apparantly didn't want to give her an answer that she wasn't going to like and he wasn't willing to lie to her either.

He was such a hard person to figure out. When there was just the two of them, no interferences from Gryffindors, Slytherins or the upcoming threat of a war, they didn't have any problems. In fact, she might even had a better time with him than she had with anyone else. She really liked him and cared for him, much more than she wanted. She knew how he could be caring and sweet as well. However at the same time he was a Death Eater, representing everything she despised. He was a paradox, a Death Eater with a heart.

"I'll leave so you can rest," she finally decided, when he remained silent. She got up from her seat.

Just when she was about to close the door behind her, he called out to her: "Granger, I didn't want this life."

"Then choose differently."

_A/N: Another 'Fluffy' chapter lol... kind of. Finally, college is a little bit less busy, but now I have all those birthday parties to go to... I don't know why so many people I know are born in October. _

_Hope you all have a good weekend and everything is alright. Till next time :)_


	10. Different sides of Malfoy

_A/N: Sorry for the late update, but it's been very busy and I have to admit that it wasn't really motivating to write, when the numbers of reviews dropped so dramatically. Don't really know why, I liked last chapter lol. So this chapter was hard for me to write, but it's done now. Anyway, thank you to the people who did review :D Hope you like this chapter!_

**Chapter 10 Different sides of Malfoy**

"And don't forget to mention that the percentage of students passing their N.E.W.T. exams in Hogwarts has gone up to…"

"Granger, you've already told me that a hundred times. I couldn't even forget to say it if I wanted to."

"Oh," Hermione said, looking at the papers in her hand. There was probably no use in going over the other facts with the Head Boy either. She hastily walked next to Malfoy through the hallways, who was carrying his trunk with him.

He was going to the Durmstrang Institute for Magical Learning this weekend. In their roles as Heads, they had a few meetings with students from the other schools of Magic, discussing which policy and rules of the schools had the most desirable results.

A few weeks ago she had been to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic to attend the meeting there. It was now Malfoy's turn to represent Hogwarts.

"Hey gorgeous," a sweet, Italian voice suddenly sounded.

"I like you too, Blaise, but I don't do P.D.A," Malfoy reacted grinning.

"Of course I meant this beautiful lady," Blaise pointed to Hermione, winking at her, "If you're feeling lonely at night in the Head chambers without Draco, I can always come over."

"N-no, thanks," she mumbled.

"Hey Draco," Blaise focused his attention again at his blonde friend, "When you hook up with a girl there, make sure she has a pretty girlfriend with long legs for me."

"I'll see what I can do," Malfoy smirked.

"Or a nice sister will do too."

"Draco, are you leaving now?" Crabbe screamed from afar, while he came to them, shaking up the ground by every step he made.

Before Hermione knew it, Malfoy was surrounded by many Slytherins who all wanted to say goodbye to him. All the other Slytherins – except for Blaise of course - ignored her and shove her in different directions, away from the Head Boy who she had been standing next to a few seconds ago. Suddenly she found herself being pushed out of the crowd and she could only see a few blonde hairs in the distance, revealing where Malfoy was. She followed the crowd of Slytherins outside.

She could see how he was getting in a carriage, ready to leave Hogwarts. She wanted to say something before he left. She could yell and get his attention, but what would she tell him? There didn't seem to pop up anything in her head that sounded right. '_Hurry back, Malfoy!' _or_ 'Be safe' _or_ 'I will miss you' _all sounded too friendly and not like something she would say to him, especially not in the presence of all these Slytherins.

So she just stood there and watched him leave.

Why did she even care she didn't say goodbye to him? He was only going to be away for the weekend. Surely she could survive a few days without him.

Besides he probably didn't care one bit about whether they said goodbye or not. It wasn't like he would miss her or even would think about her for one second in the whole weekend. Just because he had been nice to her the last days, didn't mean they were caring friends now. He would most likely already puke by the thought of the term 'caring friends'.

A bit saddened she walked back to the Head chambers, which felt strangely empty without the Head Boy in it. Maybe she should visit Harry or Ron or Ginny, but she didn't really feel like it. They wouldn't understand if she was sad that Malfoy had left. They probably expected her to be cheering instead of moping.

She went aimlessly to her bedroom and sat on her bed. She sighed. What was she going to do now?

Suddenly she noticed that her bed had become much harder to sit on than usual. She stood up and looked carefully at her bed, noticing a bump under her blanket. Curiously she took her blankets, which were imprinted with Gryffindor lions, off the bed. To her surprise there lay a golden wrapped present with a note on top of it on her mattress.

Impatiently she grabbed the note and began to read.

_To Granger,_

_I asked the saleswoman and she assured me that all the stories in this had a happy, mushy ending. I don't really understand why people want to read such things, but it is pretty popular around Muggles. Then again, it could just be a sales pitch, since it was the saleswoman who told me that. _

_I've seen some pictures as I went through the book and if you ask me, those Muggles are completly delusional when it comes to the magical world. Why would you ever give your cat boots? Or is it an Animagus? But that wouldn't make much sense either. Why would he revail that he's a human by wearing boots in the presence of Muggles?_

_Since you do understand Muggles, I thought it would be a good read for you, for when you're fretting alone in your room again. If you're still depressed after reading this book, there is seriously no hope for you..._

She unpacked the present and glanced at the cover of a large book, titled '_Grimm's fairy tales'_. Of course she already knew all the stories, but it didn't matter to her. Malfoy had bought her a present and it wasn't just any present. It was a Mugglepresent. He had gone to a Mugglestore, had asked a Muggleseller for advice and had bought her a Mugglebook. All this effort just for her.

She couldn't help but smile for the rest of the day. He had been thinking about her.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

She tried to ignore the rapidly beating of her heart. Malfoy would arrive early in the morning, so he must have gotten back from his trip by now. Hermione breathed deeply in and out to calm herself down. Why was she getting so nervous by the thought of seeing him again? He had only been gone for two days, it wasn't like he had been on a journey around the world and they had been desperately waiting for each other for years.

_It is just Malfoy_, she kept thinking to herself. _It is just Malfoy, the Slytherin who you've been hating for the last six years and he's a Death Eater. It's nothing special. Especially not something to be nervous about._

Excitedly she entered the Head common room, but to her disappointment he wasn't there. She searched in the bathroom and even took a peep in his bedroom, thinking that he might have been tired and went to bed right away. However there was no sign of him in any of the Head rooms.

Confused about his whereabouts, Hermione left the Head chambers to find him. First she went outside, seeing if all the carriages had returned to the castle. There wasn't a carriage missing so Malfoy already had to be in Hogwarts. Subsequently she went to the Great Hall, wondering if he went for a bite first.

When she couldn't find him there either, she found the courage to walk to the Slytherin's common room.

"I'm really not looking forward to seeing her again," she suddenly heard a familiar voice saying.

She got closer and saw Malfoy standing in another room, who was talking with his friend Blaise.

"She's so disgusting to share a room with," Malfoy continued, "She always wakes up early and then she wakens me as well with all of her noise. That's another annoying habit of hers. She never shuts up."

"You could have expected that," Blaise said.

"And the worst part is that lately she has been extremely clinging, following me everywhere I go like an obsessed, aggressive and most of all an extremely ugly stalker."

"Don't all the girls do that?" Blaise laughed.

"Not like this. This is just a horrible nightmare. She's the worst of all of them with her bushy hair."

"You'll just have to suck it up and live with it for a couple more months."

"Better sooner than later."

Hermione quickly turned around when she saw that the two Slytherins were coming her way. Fortunately they didn't seem to notice her and walked past her.

She couldn't believe the conversation she just heard. How could Malfoy say such mean things about her? She had never expected him to say nice things about her to his Slytherin friends, but she hadn't been anticipating this.

She had a hard time trying to breath regularly. Malfoy willingly told his friends how much he hated sharing the Head room with her. He even called her a stalker and ugly. Not just ugly, but extremely ugly.

She didn't understand. He had been nice to her the last days. Had he even liked her at all? Or had he been pretending all this time? Was it all part of another one of his plans to humiliate her?

Again, she thought back to their time together and her memories stopped at the Dark Mark that had been deeply burnt in his skin. That must have been it. He wanted her to keep her mouth shut, that was why he had been nice to her. He had tricked her again by playing into her emotions, using it to manipulate her.

His earlier words, which he said to her when he had been faking to have an incurable disease, rang through her head. _"Shouldn't you know by now you can never trust a Slytherin?"_

Yes, she should have known better, much better. How many times hadn't she seen his evil side reaching the surface? All the times he had taunted her, bullied her and made her life miserable. After all those years she should have known better than to trust him.

She had been an idiot for believing he would actually change, that he would be nice to her and truly mean it. Of course he didn't care about her. He had never cared about her. She should have listened to Harry and Ginny, when they told her to be careful. They had been right. Malfoy was no good.

He hurt her where it hurt her the most. He had used her kindness and trusting nature against her. Arduously she held back her tears, telling herself that he wasn't worth it. He had upset her, but she wasn't going to cry and break down like he probably expected her to do.

This time she was going to turn the tables and make him suffer. He had damaged her trust, now she was going to damage the thing that he cherished most; his reputation.

Quickily she ran to her Head bedroom and looked searchingly at the books in her bookcases. She grabbed a few books with titles that hinted at potions. As a madmen she went through her books, rapidly flipping the pages, hoping to find the one concoction she was looking for.

Even if it would take her whole days of searching, she wouldn't stop until she would find the ingredients for Veritaserum to get back at him. No one messes with Hermione Granger, especially not a Malfoy.

_A/N: I think you can already guess a little bit what is going to happen in the next chapter... ;)_


	11. Nothing but the truth

_A/N: A real new chapter this time :) Thank you all for your reviews. It's so nice to hear from you all! Not much to say this time actually and I don't know why haha. Must be a quiet weekend. The chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but it felt right to stop at this point... anyway, chapter 11 is here! :)_**  
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**Chapter 11 Nothing but the truth**

"Are you that hungry?" Malfoy asked, while he tried to keep up with her.

"Just come with me."

Hermione quickly tried to make her way through the hallway, because she wasn't quite sure how long the Veritaserum would work. She had secretly made the potion late last night. A moment ago she had offered Malfoy a drink, in which she sneakily slipped in the concoction, and fortunately he had drunk it without any suspicion.

They entered the Great Hall, which was packed with almost all of the students of Hogwarts since it was suppertime. Professor McGonagall immediately walked towards them.

"Miss Granger, I really don't understand why you've called me here."

"It concerns the Heads arrangements," Hermione explained, " Malfoy has something to confess."

"I think it would be more appropriate to discuss this matter in privacy."

"No, it's important to do it here," Hermione contradicted, not wanting her plan to fail, " It's a matter that concerns all the students."

"I'm not completely sure that…" Malfoy hesitated, feeling uncomfortable by the sudden situation he had gotten in.

"Mister Malfoy, you don't agree with this?" McGonagall asked him.

"If you refuse, I will show all of them your mark," Hermione hissed to Malfoy in a soft voice, making sure that McGonagall or somebody else couldn't hear her. His eyes widened out of shock by her words and he obediently gave in.

"Yes, I agree."

McGonagall gave a simple nod that she was ready for them to begin their speech or whatever it was.

"I, Hermione Granger," Hermione started to say loudly, attracting the attention of her fellow students, " the Head Girl of this school year, a student of the House of Gryffindor, ask for your attention. Draco Malfoy, the Head Boy, has something to say to all of you."

Malfoy gave Hermione a confused look : "I don't know what you want me to say to them."

The Head Girl, however, did exactly know how to begin and started to interrogate him: "How many of the students in this hall have you ever teased, insulted or mistreated in all of the years you've been going to this school?"

"All of them, except for the Slytherins. Although I made fun of some of them as well," As Malfoy answered, he winced uneasily. Angrily he narrowed his eyes and glanced at Hermione who instantly realized that he by now already had figured out that she had given a truth potion to him. Because else there was no way he would never given such an honest response in front of the whole school.

"And this mistreating of students, you've done this in your position as Head Boy as well?" she continued, trying to keep a straight face by seeing him getting madder at her by the minute.

"Yes, I will put them in their place, whenever they annoy me. If they give me a certain look, I will make sure they will get what they deserve, even if it's unfair."

"What's exactly your excuse for all this pestering?"

"My father always told me to be proud of my blood. As a Malfoy you have to be the strongest, the most powerful you can be. You have to get to them before they get to you. It's important to be in control and by demeaning others, you will gain their respect. If you don't have power over others, you're weak and worthless."

"And that's why you've been bulling me as well," Hermione stated.

"Yes, at first, but later on I annoyed you for other reasons. I always used to plague you, because you were a Muggleborn. I found you the most annoying of all. Except for potions class you were smarter than me in every class. You always knew the answer to every question and no matter how hard I studied you always excelled anyway, making me the everlasting second of the class. I was angry for you being a Muggleborn who outsmarted me, a pureblood."

"Yes and this year you've been beyond pestering me, because you wanted me to give up the Head room," she accused him, feeling a bit like a lawyer who was winning her case in court. If Malfoy openly told all of them, how he misused his position as Head Boy she was sure that the board wouldn't allow him to be Head Boy anymore.

"No, at the Yule ball in the fourth year, when you were all dressed up, I started noticing how beautiful you were. I tried not to look, but I couldn't take my eyes off of you. As the years went by, I started to secretly observe you more and more, seeing not only how smart you were, always coming up with the perfect solutions, but I also saw how everyone respected you and it wasn't because they feared you. It was because of how nice and kind you were to everyone you met, well, expect for me of course. You despise me."

Hermione frowned out of surprise. This hadn't been the answer she had been expecting to hear.

"Is this all?" McGonagall tried to wrap up the remarkable presentation of the Head Girl and the Head Boy. Unfortunately for Malfoy, he couldn't help but answer her question.

"No, after a while I couldn't ignore my feelings for her anymore. I really hoped that my feelings would fade away, but they didn't. I had to realize that I was in love with a Muggleborn who would never return my feelings. Besides my father would never look at me again, if his only son ended up with someone who wasn't a pureblood. So I decided that I had to push her away from me, especially when I found out that I was going to share a room with her. I had to be mean to her and avoid her, knowing that it would make her hate for me grow. It worked for a while, she seemed to dislike me even more. That was until the ball. I really tried, but I just couldn't escape from her anymore. I really didn't want her to go anymore. I know she will never be with me, so I tried to make the best of the little time remaining we had together. Because I know I will never see her again after Hogwarts."

While some students stared at the scene in utter shock, others started to whisper to each other. The most of the Gryffindors laughed and the Slytherins seemed to be most of all disgusted with this latest news. The Hufflepuffs remained silent out of tolerance and the Ravenclaws wisely decided to mind their own business and to stay out of this one.

"Can I go now?" Malfoy asked who was obviously very embarrassed for telling the whole school how he had fallen for a Muggleborn. His face had a deep shade of red Hermione had never seen before and she didn't know whether it came from complete anger or shame.

"Of course, Mister Malfoy," McGonagall rapidly freed him from his suffering. Her strict facial expression showed that she had more than enough of this awkward demonstration.

Hearing the words of the Deputy Head, the Head Boy left the Great Hall as fast as he could. He was followed by booing, while he walked out of the dining room. Professor McGonagall quickly made an end to the rude reactions of the students, reprimanding them with warning threats, but Hermione didn't notice it.

She stared in disbelief at the door through which Malfoy had left the enormous room. She was completely flabbergasted. Did she hear it right? The boy, who had been harassing her since the first day they met, had actual genuine feelings for her?

If he had said it under any other kind of circumstances, she would have thought for sure he had been lying or joking, but in this situation there was no doubt to the truthfulness of Malfoy's confession. The Slytherin, from whom she had never expected it, was in love with her.

All this time she had been thinking that he disliked her and the only fun he saw in her was when he made fun of her, but now her whole world seemed to be upside down. The only reason why he had been so awful to her this year was because he cared about her. It hadn't been his intention to hurt her, he only wanted to keep her away, so that he wouldn't get hurt.

She was entirely dumbfounded by how vulnerable and full of pain he had sounded. She stirred up all these emotions in him and she never even once realized it. How blind had she been?

_A/N: Awwkwward... lol. Oh yeah, when you want to say something about this story, I would prefer it if you say it in a review instead of a private message. Merely because of practical matters. My inbox is a mess here, so it's hard for me to trace back all the messages that are about this story and send you a reply to thank you. Sorry if I didn't thank someone who did send a message to my inbox... I'm still thankful ;) For all other messages that aren't in particular about the story you can still pm me of course... Now have to go back to making homework again :(_


	12. Feeling like a Slytherin

_A/N: Thanks to you all and reviwer :) Awkwardness is always more fun when it doesn't happen to yourself ;) And I should know, because for some reason I always know how to get into an awkward situation XD Anyway, let's see what's going to happen next with Hermione and Draco, because Draco definitely didn't like this stunt Hermione pulled on him..._

**Chapter 12 Feeling like a Slytherin**

"What's going on?" Hermione stared in confusion to the Head Common room that now consisted of her side of the room, which was unchanged, and the other side of the room that was packed with boxes.

"I'm leaving to another room," Malfoy said softly in an angry voice. He didn't look once at her, when he talked to her.

"But you don't have to leave," she followed him through the room, while he kept packing his things "The committee decided you could continue being the Head Boy and stay in the Head room."

"I know."

Uncomfortable by his aloofness, she stopped following him and sat down defeated on the couch. She was deeply quilt-ridden by what she had done to him. She knew she had hurt him. Although it had been her intention to make him feel pain and to damage his reputation, she never wanted this. In not a million years she could have foreseen this devastating result of her plan.

"I'm sorry, Malfoy. I've never thought that this would happen. I didn't think you would say that you were in lo…"

"Don't even finish that sentence," he interrupted her quickly. For the first time since her public interrogation in the Great Hall he glanced at her and she saw his threatening expression. He obviously didn't want to be remembered of the embarrassing event.

"I was just so mad at you for saying that I was an ugly, clingy stalker," she tried to explain her behavior, "I didn't want to live with you anymore in one room. I didn't think."

For one moment he stopped packing and looked at her confounded: "I never said that."

"Yes, you did. In the Slytherin common room you said to Blaise that I was an extremely ugly stalker and that I was disgusting to share a room with."

Malfoy stood still and a frown appeared on his head, revealing that he was deeply thinking about her words. Suddenly he seemed to know what she was talking about.

"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about that thing!" he pointed to her cat that had gotten his normal figure back again after being a fluffy balloon for a month.

"But Crookshanks is a male. You were referring to a 'she'."

"How the hell am I supposed to know what her – his gender is, " Malfoy exclaimed frustrated.

Hermione noticed the fierceness of his reaction to her accusation and she realized he was speaking the truth. She hadn't thought she could feel even worse than right after the scene in the Great Hall, but now she did. Not only had she embarrassed him to the fullest, but now it turned out that her reason for doing so wasn't even valid.

It all had been a horrible misunderstanding. He hadn't badmouthed her to his friends, he had only been talking about her hairy pet.

"Malfoy…" she spoke softly, almost in a begging manner for him to forgive her. She wanted to tell him so many things, but the conflicting thoughts in her mind prevented her from saying anything at all. There wasn't a single thing she could come up with that would make things better.

"You've played like a real Slytherin, so it's only reasonable that you won. You've got what you wanted. It's your room now," although his tone was hard and cold, she could hear his hurt through it and it pained her the most of all.

Carrying a few boxes in his hands, he left the Head Common room with no intention of returning.

Hermione sat lonely in the room that was now fully hers. If she would have seen this sight at the beginning of the year she would have been beyond happiness. A Head Common room for her alone and no one she had to share it with, especially not that annoying Malfoy. She would have put two bookcases and a cat bed for Crookshanks at the other side of the room, like she had planned in her mind from the start.

However, now as she was looking at the room, she couldn't help but feel like Malfoy's side of the room: empty.

Things were different now. She has gotten to know a few of the many layers there were to Malfoy. There was the soft side of Malfoy, in which he would cheer her up whenever she was down, even though he would be the last one to admit he wanted to see her happy. There was the considered Malfoy who thought of personal presents that only she would like. Lastly there was the vulnerable Malfoy whom he hid from everyone and whom he denied to exist. He had his sarcasm and sneers as powerful tools to protect the heart of his hearts. The few times he was guard less and she could see glimpses of his inner thoughts, she liked him the most. Yes, his vulnerable side was definitely her favorite one.

Instead of the evil bully she had seen him as for many years, she saw him as a completely different person. In the end he was just a scared boy who tried to survive by the rules his family told them. His family was distant and cold. They had high expectations for their only son and the most important one was that he had to follow Voldemort no matter what. Although Malfoy had his Slytherin friends and they looked out for each other, they could be extremely harsh to each other as well. She was sure that most of his friends would abandon him if he didn't act like the typical Muggleborn hating Slytherin.

She sighed. Maybe she had been the only one who he completely had trusted the last weeks. When he knew she had seen his Dark Mark, he hadn't even tried to stop her from telling anyone. She was certain that that wasn't normal for a Death Eater. If someone would see your mark, it was probably code to make that person shut up, even if that meant you had to kill him. Yet, Malfoy hadn't done anything to her. On the contrary, he had saved her, when they had been in a room with Fluffy, while it would have been so much easier for him if he had let her die. He had trusted her fully with his secret.

She guessed they had been friends the last weeks. Only she had been the one who betrayed him, setting him up for humiliation. Probably the last person he had expected it from. She was a Gryffindor and wouldn't do such things, but yet she did. She had been the worst friend to him.

_Just a friend?_ She asked to herself. Then she quickly tried to put that thought out of her head. She shouldn't even been thinking about that now. Malfoy was extremely mad at her and she didn't picture him forgiving her any time soon. Maybe he would never forgive her for this.

She felt absolutely awful. If she could have turn back time, like she had done with the Time-turner a few years ago, she would have never brought him to the Great Hall in the first place.

Crookshanks jumped on the couch and nested in her lap. He meowed loudly to get her attention.

"Malfoy's extremely ugly stalker, you're missing him too, huh?" she softly stroked her cat that began to purr.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"Malfoy!" she called out his name, when she passed him accidently in a hall. She wanted to apologize to him, even though she was quite sure he wouldn't accept it. But she had to try. It was the least she could do to make amends.

To her relief he looked back to see who had called him and she quickly walked towards him before he could get away.

"Draco, are you still trying? Isn't it obvious by now she doesn't want you?" a student with black curls suddenly shouted, when he spotted the two Heads together.

To Hermione's horror a few of the other students started to laugh at the comment and before she knew it she had put Malfoy in another awkward situation.

"Leave me alone, Granger, I don't ever want to speak to you again," Malfoy hissed to her and he rapidly left the hall, escaping from the uncomfortable scene.

Hermione's heart sank and with difficulty she held back the tears that were welling up in her eyes. She couldn't even talk to him without embarrassing him. How was she for Merlin's sake going to fix things now?

Angrily she turned around and looked for the student with the curls. She was going to curse him, hex him, torture him, make him feel misery like he had never seen before and… What was she even thinking? She really didn't understand why the scholars had to make such fun out of a love confession. She knew most of them had been teased by Malfoy and that they liked to see him suffer, but enough was enough. He didn't deserve this.

She was mad at the students, but the person she was the maddest at was herself. All of this was her fault. She really wanted to follow Malfoy, but there was no way he would talk to her now. She probably would make things only worse.

Sadly she walked into the Great Hall, the place where she had been heading to in the first place. She sat on her usual seat at the Gryffindor table.

"Look, Malfoy didn't even show up to eat. He's such a coward," Ron said to her, while his mouth was still full with food, "You really got him good, 'Mione, having him confess that stupid crush he has on you."

"I didn't know," she muttered irritated, not feeling any pride for her actions. Ashamed she looked at the Slytherin table, seeing that Ron was right about Malfoy not being there.

It had been a few days since she had forcibly interrogated Malfoy in public and she had noticed that Malfoy had been isolating himself. He hardly showed up for the joint lunches and dinners anymore and in classes he would sit as far away from the other students as possible.

The only one Malfoy still seemed to have normal conversations with was Blaise. To the rest he was silent, as if he tried to be invisible, which wasn't very surprising. Hermione had caught students humiliating him with his expressed love for her a dozen of times. She had wanted to help him, but Malfoy had it made very clear to her that he didn't want her to and he was probably right for that. If she helped him, they would only have more ammo to embarrass him.

"At least he was smart enough to know he would never have a chance with you," Ron went on, "As if you would ever go out with someone as rotten as he is."

"Like you would know!" Hermione yelled frustrated, slamming her fist on the table. She couldn't take this much longer. While she stood up from the table and left the dining room, she could hear her fellow Gryffindors talking about her sudden outburst.

"What has gotten into her?" Ron asked confused.

"I don't know," Harry answered honestly.

"You guys are so oblivious," Ginny sighed.

_A/N: How is Hermione going to make up with Draco now ?_


	13. The Heads keep disturbing dinner

_A/N: I'm so happy with all your reviews, they're really inspiring :) My thanks to all of you and to You Don't Need To Know and the sister of the ever loving Dramione fan. Funny that some of you read this story, because of other people suggested it to you :)_

_Here's the next chapter!_

**Chapter 13 The heads keep disturbing supper**

Frequently she had told herself that it would go away with time. She would have thought the teasing would stop after a few days, but to her horror she still saw students having a lot of fun talking about her and Malfoy. As the pestering went on, the stronger the other feeling, that had been nagging her for quite a while now, seemed to become.

The feeling that made her want to give Malfoy a comforting hug, after she had seen him walking alone and sad in the halls again. The only thought that prevented her from doing so, was that she was a hundred percent certain that he would reject her. She could see in his silver eyes that he was still mad at her and she couldn't blame him. She would definitely hold a grudge against Malfoy as well, if he'd ever done such a thing to her.

The days without Malfoy passed by and although she tried very hard to keep herself occupied with a book or with her friends, her thoughts kept going back to the blonde Head Boy. Every day she missed him more and more until she finally got to the point she had to face the truth that she had been trying to deny for so long.

At first she had been occupied with him, because she truly wanted him to leave the Head Room. Then she became obsessed with hexing him, reassuring herself the sole reason for this was that she liked studying all the different kind of spells, while she secretly had looked forward to Malfoy's reaction, when he found out she had tricked him again. In fact she had gotten intrigued by his slyness and had wondered how he would try to ruff her the next time.

Since then she had told herself so many excuses. She only stared at his appearance, because she needed to study his facial expressions in order to see what he was up to. She hadn't told anyone about his Dark Mark, because she was the kind of person who thought that everyone deserved a fair chance. At the ball she had only enjoyed his presence, because she had been so sad that anyone who was there would do. She didn't want to let go of his hand, because she liked the warmth of holding someone's hand. She merely hung out with him on Valentine's Day, because she didn't have to anything better to do. She gave him a kiss on his cheek, because that was the polite manner to end a date. She missed him when he was at Durmstrang, because she wasn't used to stay at Hogwarts without a roommate. Finally the last days she had gotten to her hundredth excuse, telling herself that she only felt the need to go up to him and kiss him all over was because she felt bad for him.

They were all lies. Instead of the multiple reasons she had come up with in her head, there was only one simple reason why she had been acting like this for the past months. She, Hermione Granger, was head over heels in love with Draco Malfoy.

She had been scared for her feelings. He was a Death Eater after all and when it came to the war, they were pitted against each other. Furthermore she had had feared that Malfoy wouldn't feel the same way and only would make fun of her. Not to mention the reaction of her friends. Maybe Ginny would understand, but she absolutely wasn't sure about Harry and Ron. They would probably think she would have gone crazy. So she stopped her feelings far away to never be shown to the world.

After giving Malfoy the Veritaserum and his confession that he loved her as well, she had been shocked. Not in her wildest dreams she had thought he would return her feelings. However at that time it had been too late. He was furious and didn't want anything to do with her anymore. He made that very clear.

Determined she decided that she had to make up to Malfoy, even if it meant that she had to throw away her own pride. The plan had formed itself in her mind and she knew it was the right thing to do. She was willing to endure the consequences, no matter how painful it was going to be.

She took a deep breath to get herself together. She was a Gryffindor and she never gave up in their battle against Voldemort, no matter what great dangers lay ahead. Out of all people she had to have the courage to go through with this.

"I, Hermione Granger, the Head Girl of this school year, a student of the House of Gryffindor, have an announcement to make," she spoke loudly, trying to hide her nervousness as well as she could.

All of the students, who had been busy with their dinner in the Great Hall, looked in her direction. Uncomfortably she felt how everyone was staring at her. _Come on, you can do this_, she encouraged herself to continue.

"As you all probably know, Draco Malfoy and I never got along very well. For the last six years we've been fighting and avoiding each other, whenever we could. But this year has been different, very different. We were forced to spend a lot of time together and in that time I saw a side of him that I've never seen before. As I got to know him, I started to like him more and more. Eventually I fell in love with him and when you're in love you do stupid things. When I interrogated him the other day in this Great Hall, I had given him a love potion…"

"I knew it!" Pansy yelled hysterically through the Great Hall, through which Hermione got distracted and didn't notice that someone approached her.

Suddenly the person touched her arm softly to get her attention. To her surprise Hermione saw that it was the boy she had despised and now loved: A confused Malfoy was standing next to her.

"Have you gone insane?" he whispered to her, "What are you doing?"

"Don't worry, I have prepared this speech thoroughly. I'm going to save your reputation."

"By lying?" he asked in disbelief.

"Except for the part about the love potion, I'm not lying."

His eyes grew wide, letting the meaning of her words sink in.

"You're not?" he asked to be sure he had heard her right the first time.

"No," she replied, trying not to blush, "You're ruining my speech like this."

She turned her head again to the students in front of her, while she could see from her eye corners that Malfoy was still bewilderingly glancing at her. Noticing the looks of the students, her speech seemed to have the same effect on them as on Malfoy. They stared in shock at her, impatiently waiting for the rest of her presentation.

She raised her voice once again to continue her public confession: "As I was saying, Malfoy was under the influence of a love potion the other day and he…"

"She only made a love potion, because I asked her to," Malfoy suddenly interrupted her.

Hermione was completely astonished by Malfoy's abrupt addition to her speech. The direction in which she had intended her announcement to go, went up in smoke. She didn't know how to continue now. Shocked she looked at Malfoy, wondering where he was going with this story.

"We've been secretly dating for months," Malfoy went on, making up things on the spot, " It all happened after a Quidditch match. She wanted to congratulate me after our win on Gryffindor and of course after seeing me all sweaty after the match, she couldn't resist me any longer and she was all over me."

"That's not true," Hermione gasped, not believing that Malfoy could even be cocky in this situation, " Before that happened, he already asked me out several times, but I kept refusing him. It wasn't until he bought me roses and told me how much in love he was with me that we actually kissed."

"I actually did that at the time, because I had a bet with Blaise that I could every girl that I wanted, even her. She definitely had already fallen for me then," Malfoy tried to defend his reputation. He probably didn't want to look like a big softie.

"But it was only shortly after that, that he realized that he was in love with me as well," Hermione thought up a new lie that was compatible with Malfoy's fabrications, "He confessed the bet and then he officiously asked me to have a serious relationship with him and I accepted."

"Yes and after that we sure got a lot of action," Malfoy grinned devilishly, a gesture that he stopped immediately after seeing her glaring at him, "Anyway, I shall explain why I asked her to make a love potion. I wanted to know the difference between real love and the love you will feel from a love potion. So I asked Granger to make a love potion and I can tell you that without a love potion…"

Hermione stared at Malfoy, wondering why he abruptly stopped his sentence. Before she realized what the Head Boy had in mind, she already felt him softly pressing his lips on hers. Hermione was stunned, she couldn't believe this was really happening. She and Malfoy were smooching? In public? Gradually she gave into the kiss, trying to let her body, that seemed to tingle heavily by his touch, relax. For a few seconds she forgot their surroundings, all the students who were gazing at them, and she let herself get carried away in the moment, deepening their kiss passionately, enjoying the intimate contact with Malfoy to the fullest.

As they stopped kissing, Hermione realized again that they were in the presence of a crowd of students. Her cheeks immediately turned red.

"Without a love potion a kiss is much better than with a love potion," Malfoy continued, while she was still gasping by what they just did in front of all the students, "So let this be a warning for all you students. Don't make any love potions, it doesn't beat the real thing. As the Head Boy and Head Girl we will be watching you closely."

The reactions of the students to the second highly remarkable presentation of the two Heads differed. Some smiled, some looked completely disgusted, while others still seemed to be fully stunned and there were even a few that applauded.

Malfoy held her by the hand and together they passed the few, large dinner tables as they left the Great Hall.

"Do you think they bought it?" Hermione whispered to him, when they had exited the enormous dining room.

"Of course, they're complete morons," he grinned.

"I don't know if I can remember all those lies we just told."

"Hermione," he suddenly said seriously, " It doesn't matter how we got together, as long as we are together."

"Hermione?" she asked him smiling. He had never called her by her first name before.

"I'm guessing that since we've already been dating for three months we can be on a first name basis now. Or do you rather have a nickname like Herm or Hermie?" he teasingly suggested.

She stared into his grey orbs, still a bit heated about all what just happened. As she looked at him, a reassuring feeling suddenly came up in her. Although he was unpredictable and she never knew what his next move was going to be, she had this strange feeling of security in his presence now. No matter how mean the comments of the other students were going to be, no matter what his family would say – she would suggest to Malfoy to go to Dumbledore to get help -, what the reactions would be of her friends – she had the hunch that Harry, Ron and Ginny would come around sooner or later about her and Malfoy- or what was going to happen with Voldemort, she knew that everything was going to be all right. Because now he was with her and she wasn't going to let him go.

"Hermione is just fine, Draco, and that means we're also obligated to do this from now on," she laughed, before she pulled him in for another kiss.

_A/N: Actually when I made up the plot for this story, this chapter was intended to be the last chapter of the story. However, it felt a little bit to me that if I stopped here, many questions wouldn't be answered. For example, what's going to happen with Draco as a Death Eater and how are Hermione's friends going to react to all of this? So I've decided to make a few more chapters to this story. It is a little bit more drama etc, so prepare yourselves for the next chapter :)_


	14. Good, bad and ugly reactions

_New chapter. Almost Christmas... well still have to wait a few weeks for that, but I'm already excited! I love Christmas :) Thank you for all your positive feedback! Also to the two anonymous reviewers: Annie and anna0728 :) Now what happens after the public kiss?_

**Chapter 14 Good, bad and ugly reactions**

"I will make sure you will get all the protection that is needed," Dumbledore promised Draco. His tone was serious and harsh, but also had a hint of comfort.

Hermione felt a bit relieved they had filled in their Head Master. It gave her some reassurance to know that Dumbledore would be on their side. He was a very powerful, maybe even the most powerful sorcerer she knew.

She gave a slight smile to her boyfriend Draco to support him. _Her boyfriend Draco._ It sounded a bit weird in her head, because it was new, but she could definitely get used to that phrase.

They had gone to Dumbledore's office immediately after their public show in the Great Hall, Draco had insisted on it. The Head Master had patiently listened to blonde Head Boy, as he confessed being a Death Eater and showed his Dark Mark.

"They're planning an attack on Hogwarts," Draco suddenly stated.

Hermione looked confused at the Slytherin. This was new information for her.

"I've given them the passwords of the house common rooms and some of the teacher offices. I've also been exploring secret passages and entrances to Hogwarts for them. I'm not sure which entrance they will use. Maybe all of them."

"When is this attack going to occur?" Dumbledore inquired.

"I don't know," Draco answered helplessly.

Instantly the Head Master took action. It was admirable how he always knew what to do, given any situation. He gave several of the portraits that were hanging in his office instructions. For Hermione it was all blur what kind of orders he gave precisely. Her thoughts were still hung up on the upcoming invasion, which was set up by the aid Draco.

She knew he was a Death Eater and that he had gone to their meetings, but she never realized that he actually had given them the valuable, private information to help them taking over the magical world. She had solely seen him as a forced follower, not as a partaker.

"Draco, could you write down all the entrances you've disclosed to them?" Dumbledore asked, "I'll be back in a minute. I have to make some arrangements."

Draco nodded, while he obediently already took a paper and a feather from the desk.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Hermione hissed indignantly to him, after the old man had left his office.

"We weren't really on speaking terms before. I didn't…"

"Do you even realize what you've done?" she burst out, not able to hold in her anger and panic anymore, "If they succeed, we're all dead. Not only Harry or Dumbledore, but everyone who doesn't give in to Voldemort's commands. It's going to be a massacre!"

"I know, Hermione and if I could undo it, I would have, but it's already done. I can't change it anymore. I don't want the attack to happen either."

She sighed sadly. She got up from her seat and headed to the door, feeling all the persons who were still in the portraits staring at her. The information was a lot for her to take in. She didn't know how to react. All kind of emotions were stirring in her, from shock and fear to disappointment.

"Where are you going?" Draco asked concerned.

"I just need some time to think," she replied, before she exited the Head Master's office.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"We want to talk with you about Malfoy."

Hermione looked up to their three friends: Harry, Ron and Ginny. Or as Draco sarcastically liked to name them: The-boy-who-kept-living-and-living-and-living, very annoying redhead number one and less annoying redhead number two in a smaller package.

She had hidden herself in the library, hoping to have some privacy to think things through. After her revelation of her relationship with Draco in the Great Hall, she found herself to suspiciously think that everywhere she went there was someone who was talking behind her back. There even had been a young Slytherin girl who threatened her to make her life miserable if she wouldn't leave Draco alone. Who knew that Draco had fangirls?

Hermione had wanted to talk with her friends about everything, but their timing was really bad. Of course they had chosen this moment to speak with her about Draco, when he was the last thing she wanted to discuss.

"So how are his kisses like? Like gentle and romantic or more wild and passionate?" Ginny asked, who obviously couldn't hide her curiosity anymore. At least one of her friends was enthusiastic about her new boyfriend.

"Ginny, not all of us want to be grossed out," the older Weasley remarked.

"We were supposed to be supportive, even if it's Malfoy," Ginny softly hissed to Ron. They obviously had spoken with each other before they decided to confront her.

"Thanks for the support, Ron," Hermione sighed, while she closed the book in her hands to give them her full attention.

"He doesn't mean it like that," Ginny tried to diminish her brother's behavior.

"Of course I mean it. How can you have a relationship with such a slimy rat like him? Have you forgotten everything that he has done in the past? How he called you mudblood and…"

"He's changed," Hermione rapidly interrupted Ron, not feeling the need to hear all the evil things Draco had done.

The redhead shook his head in disbelief: "He might have you fooled with his manipulations, but he doesn't fool me. An underhand ferret like him doesn't change like that. You can talk to me again, when you've come to your senses."

Ron left the library angrily, raising the heads of some other students who were wondering what all the fuss was about. This wasn't going as Hermione had hoped and they didn't even know he was a Death Eater yet.

"I'll go talk to him. He will come around," Ginny attempted to help out, "And we will talk later, I want to hear all the details."

Uncomfortably Hermione watched Ginny going after Ron, leaving her alone with Harry.

"You have anything to add to Ron's complaints?" she asked, not sure whether she wanted to hear the answer to her question.

"I'm not angry for you having a relationship with Malfoy. I just don't understand why you didn't tell us. We're your friends, you can trust us."

"I was scared for your reaction."

"I don't like him and I'm not going to pretend that I do, but, 'Mione, you're the smartest of all of us. If you believe he has changed, I trust you."

The sudden support from Harry, which she hadn't foreseen, comforted Hermione. Yes, she did believe that Draco had changed. Maybe she was foolish, naïve or blindsided by love, but a gut feeling in her dominated. There was something about Draco which was good and she trusted him to make the right, honorable decisions from now on.

To conclude, two of her friends had showed their support and Ron, well, he always had been a hothead. He could be immature at times and react impulsively, but he always seemed to come around after a while. It could take a long time, however, she was willing to wait for it.

Satisfied she realized how blessed she was with having such good friends. She smiled: "Thank you, Harry."

He gave her a truthful smile in return.

"There is something else," Hermione said.

She didn't want to keep Harry in the dark for a second time. He had the right to know about the upcoming attack of Voldemort, especially since he was the primary one who the dark sorcerer was after.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Late in the evening Hermione returned to the Head Room, seeing Draco sitting at the desk, busy with writing something. It was a relief for her to find him in their shared room. At least he was still willing to be in her presence after her emotional reaction.

"What are you doing?" she tried to ask carelessly, pretending that the so obvious tension between them wasn't there. Pretending that she hadn't run off angrily after she had found about his assistance to the Death Eaters.

"I'm writing a letter to my father," Draco replied in a normal tone, although he seemed to be a bit uneasy by her presence, "He sent me a howler. Apparently he heard that I was dating you."

"Oh," was all Hermione could express. She had anticipated an unpleasant comment coming from Draco's family, but she hadn't thought it would be this fast.

"What should I write? That I have gotten insane, fell for a muggleborn and it doesn't matter what he thinks? Or that it was just a joke and that we never dated?"

Draco stared intensely at her. His question obviously had an underlying meaning. He wanted to know from her whether they were still a couple or not.

It could be her way out. She could end all of it right here. She could diminish their relationship as a fit of insanity that had lasted for only one day. It would be the reasonable thing to do, a decision that would be approved of by her environment. After all, a muggleborn who was close friends with Harry Potter had no business with a (former) Death Eater.

However, it was already too late. The once so clear lines between who was good and who was evil had become blurred. No black or white anymore. Only the grey color of the eyes of the boy she loved the most remained.

Even though Draco had chosen her side, she realized so much the more that not everyone who they were going to fight against, had an evil core inside. How many of them were solely driven by fear? How many of them just hadn't the courage to stand up for themselves, scared for what would happen to them, if they didn't comply with their friends, family and the Dark Lord?

Determined she decided she wasn't going to make the same mistake. She was going to make her own decisions, no matter what other people thought. In her heart it felt right to be with him. She wouldn't give up on him, because of his past.

"I think you should write your father that you're pretending to have a relationship with me to get close to Harry," she finally said.

"The coward's way out? Well, it certainly fits me."

"It's for your own protection. It's not being a coward."

"Isn't that what you think? I help Voldemort and the Death Eaters, and before the actual battle begins, I suddenly turn sides. Running to Dumbledore for protection, while everyone in Hogwarts needs more protection than me, because of my treachery."

"No, I don't think you're a coward," she walked towards him and softly touched his cheek with her hand, "I think you are brave, Draco. You're going against everything that you've learned since your birth. Your family, your friends. I don't know if I would have done that in your position."

"Yes, you would," he smiled, finding it impossible to think she wouldn't do the right thing. Then he continued seriously: "What I've done for the Death Eaters… I won't do it again. I will prove it to you."

"You don't have to. It's in the past. Just no more surprises from now on, okay?"

"No more surprises?" A devilishly smirk appeared on his face, "But I'm a cunning Slytherin, I will always have surprises for you."

Suddenly he grasped her arm, through which she fell right into his lap. Out of astonishment she let out a small squeal.

"I guess I can agree on pleasant surprises," she laughed.

_A/N: I hope it wasn't too much Ron bashing, but it felt a bit unnatural if all of her friends accepted their relationship immediately and Ron is usually the one who is the most immature, so I thought it would be in character for him to be the most upset. Anyway, till next week :)_


	15. Return of the Death Eater

_A/N: Another week, one week closer to Christmas !:) Wow, 140 reviews now, so that means an average of 10 reviews for every chapter. Never gotten so many reactions before for a chapter! :D And 93 people have this story on their favorites list, so hurry up and be the 100th to do so ;) Haha. _

_As you can see, I'm very happy with all of your responses. So here's the new chapter for you! :)**  
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**Chapter 15 Return of the Death Eater**

"We should go, we'll be late for class."

Draco reluctantly opened one of his eyes, looking straight at the brown curls in front of him that were tickling his skin. He realized that Hermione was lying in his arms. They must have fallen asleep on the couch.

"Hermione, just fifteen more minutes," Draco contradicted her, not willing to get up from this comfortable position.

"But we'll miss…"

"The teacher will be late, if there even will be a teacher at all," he interrupted her.

It had been five days ago since he had informed Dumbledore. Ever since the Head Master had found out about the upcoming attack of Voldemort, he had been trying to evacuate all the students out of Hogwarts. However, the Ministry didn't seem to believe in the return of Voldemort nor in a planned invasion of the English magic school. So they didn't feel the need to support the Head Master in his plans, in fact, they counteracted him. They practically forced him to pretend nothing was going on.

Although their lessons were still scheduled, hardly the half of their classes were actually being held. Most of the teachers were busy with ways to protect the castle and find other accommodations for the students. All of the first and second years had already been transferred to safer surroundings. The third and fourth years would be moving out soon as well.

"Besides we have a good excuse," Draco continued.

He and Hermione had been in the Forbidden Forest the whole night with some naïve Hufflepuff kid from the third year. They had been waiting for hours in the pouring rain for the child to be picked up by his aunt.

It had taken so long that he had suggested to leave the kid in the forest with a note on it, but for some odd reason Hermione didn't agree with that plan.

"Five minutes," Hermione gave in.

"My evil masterplan has finally worked," he grinned, "I've made a slacker out of you. You bring out the good in me and I bring out the worst of you."

"You bring out more good than you know," she said in a serious manner. Somehow she really believed in him, which made him feel scared and cared for at the same time.

Softly she took a hold of his arm and kissed his Dark Mark, through which she made an observation: "It's burning."

Draco had already felt the sensation in his arm last night, but he had kept it to himself. The last thing he wanted was to make her worried. As the time went on, it became harder to ignore the burning of his mark. It was like an insane craving, engraved in his skin that was difficult to resist.

However he never wanted to be a puppet of the Dark Lord again, so he did whatever he could to not give into the Mark. He wasn't willing to give up Hermione and he didn't want to be dragged into the role of a Death Eater again. The constant lying, deceiving and hurting people wasn't a lifestyle he desired to have.

"He's calling me," he simply replied, trying to make it sound less terrible than it was.

Hermione sat upright: "You should go to Dumbledore and ask him if he can do something to make it stop."

"I'm not going to bother him. He's already busy enough."

"But this is important! I'm sure he would like to know that the Death Eaters are being called by Voldemort."

Draco had become all too familiar with that look in Hermione's eyes. He called it 'the insane look', only in his head of course, he wouldn't say that aloud to her. Whenever she had that look, it was a sign that she was passionate about it and wasn't going to let go.

"Fine," he answered. It wasn't a bad idea to inform Dumbledore about a Death Eater meeting coming up, but he wasn't going to ask like a pathetic victim how the influences of the Mark could be removed. He had some dignity.

"And while you're there, ask him how the burning will go away."

"I'm not…"

"I'm sure he will be more than willing to help."

She looked at him with her big brown eyes and he suddenly felt very lost. He wouldn't be surprised if she had been practicing that in the mirror. He just couldn't refuse her anything when she gazed at him like this. He was so doomed.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Nervously he walked into the Heads Common room, seeing Hermione smile at him, when she noticed his presence. He wondered how long that smile was going to stay. He had news for her and she definitely wasn't going to like it.

Unconsciously he touched his nose, remembering the pain she caused him, when she punched him a few years ago. Her reaction was hopefully going to be less painful this time.

"And? Is the burning gone?" she asked immediately, while she glanced at his arm.

"Dumbledore asked me to go the Death Eater's meeting."

"What?"

"Dumbledore requested me to find out more details about the attack. When it's going to take place, how many followers Voldemort has..."

"Has he gone insane? You can't go back there. You must have told him that," her piercing eyes really made him want to lie, but he couldn't.

"I've caused this, so it's only fair if I will try to stop it."

To be honest, he was no hero. Frankly, he was more a coward than the one who would save the day. He was scared to death about what he had agreed on to do. And if it would have been any other occasion of Voldemort trying to take over, he would have been more than willing to stay out of it and let the Potterkid with his fancy lightning scar fight the dark wizard. However this attack was based on his actions and he could do something to prevent it.

He didn't want all the people, who he knew, including his teachers, friends, Hermione and even the students who he only knew by face, die and know it was his fault. He couldn't imagine living with such a burden resting on him.

"I don't want you to go back there. They might know of your betrayal. What if they kill you?" Hermione exclaimed, heavily protesting against his plan.

"Well, it's going to be hard to find a replacement for me. No one has such outstanding looks like me."

"Don't make jokes," she replied sadly.

"I don't like this either, but I have to do this," he continued seriously, he hated it when he made her upset, "Just like you helped Potter in the past. It's something I've got to do."

She frowned, thinking about what he said. He could see how his words had an impact on her. She began to understand why he wanted to do this.

"Then I'm going with you," she decided.

"I don't think that…"

"I'm going with you," she said determined.

He smiled to her. She was being her stubborn and bossy self. Just the way he liked it.

"Hermione, I never would have thought I would love such an annoying person as you. Don't ever change."

He held her tightly and kissed her passionately. He really loved kissing her. Every time their kisses ended, it felt like it ended too fast. Especially this time.

"Don't be too mad at me," he said after the kiss.

"For what?" she asked confused.

He muttered the words rapidly, giving her no chance to stop him. With a little tap of his wand the spell was completed. It was such an easy form of magic and yet it had so many great consequences.

He knew you shouldn't use your magic on the ones you love, but he didn't feel like he had any other choice. If he would take her in disguise with him to the Death Eaters, she would be in serious danger. If something would happen to her, he would never forgive himself.

On the other hand he couldn't just leave her behind. She wasn't a girl who would wait patiently for him to come back. In the worst-case scenario she would follow him and try to protect him. He couldn't let that happen. And even if she didn't follow him, she would be worried sick. If it had been the other way around, he definitely would go crazy, knowing that his girlfriend was putting herself in a dangerous situation and could be dead any minute.

So he decided that this was the best option. He already had learned the spell months ago from the other Death Eaters. It was important to erase your tracks if anyone had seen you.

He altered her memory, leaving out the pieces of their relationship. If he would survive, he could undo the spell. If he died, she wouldn't have to mourn over his death. It was the best solution he could give to her.

"Malfoy, why are you staring so strangely at me?" Hermione said with a blank expression.

The spark in her eyes was gone, just as her friendly smile he had gotten used to and loved. The spell had worked. He was nothing more to her now than the racist git who annoyed the hell out of her.

"Nothing, Hermi-Granger," he almost slipped up, "I have to go."

She was probably thinking that he had lost his mind, but he couldn't help himself. He tried to prolong the possibly last glimpse he could catch of her to the fullest. Her bouncy curls, her soft skin, her eyes filled with curiosity. He tried to take it all in as precisely as he could, wanting to have a good memory of the girl he loved more than he ever could have imagined.

_If I survive this, I will come back for you,_ he swore to himself.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

The edges of his long, black robe slightly touched the cold ground. A whole group of Death Eaters already was gathered at the core of the gloomy graveyard. Noiselessly he stood behind some other Death Eaters, not wanting to draw any attention to himself.

In the distance he saw his father and mother, both almost completely draped in dark clothing. Only their postures and the small glimpses of their faces revealed who they were. He stayed away from them, not feeling the need to have a family reunion. He didn't feel in place here anymore. Maybe he never had been in place here.

The only thing Draco wanted was to return to Hogwarts, to the warmth of Hermione, but he knew he had to do this. The most important thing that should be on his mind now was to prevent the attack.

Everyone seemed to be waiting for the Dark Lord to arrive. Draco wasn't looking forward to see the dark sorcerer again. The pale man with the sunken face always sent chills down his spine. Only his presence could already change the whole atmosphere into a dark one with people changing into scared subordinates. Just like he had been. He was still scared, but he wasn't going to follow orders anymore.

"Draco, you're back."

He looked up, realizing that it was his mother who had spoken to him. He could see that she wanted to hug him, but it wasn't a gesture that wasn't appreciated in this environment. Death Eaters didn't show affection.

"We thought that they caught you spying in Hogwarts."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you noticed?" his father hissed, "The security of Hogwarts has been greatly enhanced the last days. Someone must have betrayed us all. That's why this meeting was planned. The Dark Lord is going to find and punish the filthy traitor."

_A/N: Yes, a cliffhanger! I know I'm mean. :P_


	16. Goodbye to Hogwarts

_A/N: The new chapter is here. It's a bit shorter than the other ones, but the holidays are coming, so I've been busy with buying too many presents for under the Christmas tree ;) Thanks to every reviewer, including randomGirl (happy belated birthday!;) ). Now, what will happen to Draco..._

**Chapter 16 Goodbye to Hogwarts**

From the outside Draco seemed to be inanimated, but there were so many feelings boiling inside. Fear, anger and sadness. His eyes were moist, but he couldn't give in to the tears. His father had made that pretty clear to him.

"Don't show the Dark Lord your weakness," his father had whispered to him after it happened, "Remember that it's all for the greater good."

Greater good. How could this possibly be for the greater good?

Reluctantly he had listened to his father's harsh words. He had clenched his fists to control his emotions. Surrounded by all of the Death Eaters and Voldemort, he wasn't allowed to show any compassion or remorse. It would give him away and then it all would have been for nothing.

It seemed to take forever for the cold, dark wizard to leave with his followers. Draco refused to give one more glance to Voldemort and stared to the ground, hiding his head under his black hood. After he had been absolutely sure that they were gone, he dared to look up again.

He noted the presence of the only Death Eater besides him, if he even could call himself a Death Eater anymore, who remained at the dreadful graveyard. It was his father. Draco angrily ignored his presence and knelt down on the frigid ground, grabbing the cold hand of the body and lightly squeezing it.

He heard her words again in his head that she softly had spoken. They had only been meant for him:_ "Draco, follow your heart, not your fears."_

At the time he hadn't understood the meaning or why she suddenly had chosen to express this wisdom to him. It all became clear to him sooner than he wanted to though.

As Voldemort interrogated everyone of his Death Eaters, Draco became more and more nervous with every step that the dark wizard came closer to him. The young Malfoy felt that only one look could already give him away. The word guilty felt all written over his face.

Suddenly his mother had stood up from the crowd, held her head up high and told Voldemort she was the traitor. That she was the one who had revealed the plans of the upcoming attack of Hogwarts to Dumbledore. Draco had been astonished, probably even more than the rest of the Death Eaters.

Although she didn't always agree with the thoughts and actions of Voldemort, she never expressed these concerns and always obeyed him. For her to betray him was a shock for the other Death Eaters. For Draco it was, however, a whole different kind of surprise. He knew that he had been the traitor instead of her. She somehow must have known that he had been the betrayer. This was for him. She lied for him.

Then it all happened in a flash. One moment his mother had been standing next to him, alive and kicking, and now there was nothing anymore. Only a corpse, an empty body that didn't resemble his mother anymore as he had known her.

"Mother!" he had screamed, but it hadn't mattered. He had blinked, seeing the green flashes passing him and going to his mother. And with that, it was done. It went as simple as that, as if it didn't mean anything. His mother was gone and would never come back.

Never again would he see her smile again. Even though many saw her as a strict and cold woman, Draco knew better. She indeed liked to follow rules and have everything clear and in order. However she was much more than that. She showed him to be proud of himself, she was a peacemaker and she was the only one who would give the Malfoy Manor a bit of warmth. Moreover she always seemed to know how to relax his father and turn his bad temper into a good mood.

Draco was going to miss all of those aspects of her, her worst and her best sides.

"We have to bury her," Draco stated to his father.

His father remained silent for a long time, making Draco wonder if he had even heard his words. He stared at his father, seeing the struggle in his eyes. Was he going to stay loyal to his beliefs in a pureblood world or was he going to choose for the woman who had stood beside him for all those years?

"We don't honor traitors. Do you want to question the actions of the Dark Lord?" Lucius finally said.

Draco looked disappointed away from his father and turned his attention back to his mother. He couldn't count on his father for support, even though he wanted to.

He softly stroke her cold face and took his time to say his goodbyes to her. He wished he could have offered her so much more than she had gotten now. He decided that he would come back later and give her a proper end by burying her when his father wasn't around.

"Draco, come with me," Lucius ordered his son.

"I have to get back to Hogwarts."

"There's no use for you to go back there. The plan has changed, you don't have to spy there anymore. This is your future from now on."

Draco realized he couldn't disobey his father without making himself suspicious. As much as he wanted to return to the castle, he had no choice than to leave with his father. After catching a last glimpse of Hogwarts in the distance, he followed his father into the darkness.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"Hermione, are you ready?"

"Almost," Hermione scanned her shared room with Malfoy. She was putting all of her important things in her backpack and at this moment she couldn't take the risk to overlook something.

"We really have to go. Voldemort isn't going to sit and wait for us to destroy all the Horcruxes," Ron insisted. She knew he was right. It was of utter importance that they would be on their way and find the Horcruxes before Voldemort would take over the world. Furthermore Harry was already downstairs waiting on them to escape from Hogwarts.

"I... just... Don't you have to say goodbye to your girlfriend Lavender?" Hermione tried to keep her friend off her back. It was hard to concentrate when he was rushing her.

Hermione looked surprised to Ron when he didn't answer. It had been for the first time since they've been in the room that Ron felt silent.

"Did you two..." Hermione started to ask uneasily.

"It's... it's better not to have a relationship in the war," Ron stuttered, while his head got a bit red.

"Sorry," the Gryffindor girl said compassionately. She wanted to give him a comforting hug, but he immediately stopped her.

"There's no time for that. Better finish packing."

"Yes, ofcourse," she turned her attention back to her bag," I think I have everything now. I'm just scared that I'm forgetting something."

It felt strange to leave the Heads Common room. She had hoped for such a long time to be a Head Girl and even though that she had to share this precious room with Malfoy, it was hard to just walk away from it. She couldn't explain it, but somehow she felt warm and safe, just being in this room. To be honest, she didn't want to leave. However, she knew very well that she couldn't stay here. It was time for her to help Harry and fight Voldemort.

"You aren't thinking about taking that stupid ferret with you, right?" Ron interrupted her thoughts.

"Why would I want to take Malfoy with us?" Hermione asked indignantly, "He can't be trusted."

"Good to see you've finally come to your senses."

"What?" Hermione asked confused. What was Ron talking about? He was acting weird when it came to Malfoy. Maybe he was mad at her, because she brought up his failed his relationship with Lavender. Ron didn't give her anymore time to think about it though.

"Let's go, Hermione," Ron grabbed her arm, leading her to leave the Heads Common room.

_A/N: This chapter was a bit sad. Two more chapters after this and then the story will be finished. It makes me kind of sad, but also proud to finish a story. But oh well, we're not there yet ;) And for now, I already wish all of you a very merry Christmas! Have a good time with your friends and family! :)_


	17. It all started with a sock

_A/N: This update is kind of early, but tommorrow is another Holiday, so I have more time to update __today__. I'm sure you don't mind ;)_

**Chapter 17 It all started with a sock**

~~ _5 months later_ ~~

Nervously he walked into the hospital room, which was much more luxurious than the small rooms in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. A heroine, who fought for a world in which every wizard was equal, of course only deserved the best. His heart was beating wildly. How long had he not been waiting for this?

It didn't take her long to notice his remarkable presence. He was happy to see that she was still a smart observant. Although it could just be an influence from the war. It made everyone suspicious and kept everyone on their toes.

"Malfoy?" she weakly called out his name. By her expression he could see that she was astonished by his visit.

Tensely he came closer to her, taking in the distinguished features of her face that made her so beautiful in his eyes. To him it didn't matter that she was pale nor that she looked tired. He had been longing for such a long time to see her, only one fast glimpse of her would already have satisfied him.

She was the only reason why he had kept going on, when he had been in the presence of the Death Eaters and after that, when he had been running and hiding from his former allies for months. At the first opportunity he had gotten, he had run away from the Malfoy Manor, the place that had felt so safe for him in his childhood years. However the house hadn't felt like his home anymore, it had more been like a prison from which he wanted to escape.

After his sudden disappearance he had been hunted down by the Death Eaters, even tortured by some of them. They had figured out that he was the one who betrayed them all by the attack of Hogwarts and they wanted him to pay. Disloyality to the Dark Lord was one of the worst deeds you could do. He still couldn't comprehend why fate had been so fortunate for him that he had survived it all. But no matter how bad things got, how many bruises he had gotten, how lonely he had been, how much suffering he went through, she had always been with him. Whenever he had lost his will to continue, the mere thought of her had pulled him through.

One of the Death Eaters had threatened him once, asking him what his last wish would be, before he was going to die. Coldly had he answered that he had no last wish, while in fact he knew all too well what he wanted most: to see the bossy bookworm once more. And now he was here, with her in one room. He had hoped for this moment so many times, but he had never really believed that it would truly happen.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see how you were."

"A few broken ribs. That Scabior talks funny, but he really knows his spells."

"Yes... I heard," he said. He had been following her whereabouts as closely as he could. Mostly from other lowlifes had he heard about her quest with the weasel and Potter for Horcruxes to defeat the Dark Lord, in which they eventually succeeded.

He wanted to embrace her, without her thinking he was insane. He wanted to comfort her, tell her that everything was going to be alright now, that all of the mysery had finally ended. However the most of all he wanted to see her loving gaze towards him, feel her love once more.

Carefully he used his wand to undo his earlier spell, without her noticing he was using magic again on her. She must have been too tired from her operation to detect the little movements he made.

However when his incantation was done, all that he could see was the same blank stare as she had been given him before. Confused he looked to his wand. Did something go wrong? Did he mess up?

"Do... do you know what happened between us?" he asked, doubting the effect of his spell.

"It's weird, I can remember everything from this last year except for the parts involving you. The last thing I remember about you is that I found a sock of you in my book and I was really mad at you."

"A sock?" he asked surprised. He couldn't remember that.

"Ginny said that we have a relationship. Apparently you made some bet with Blaise to seduce me and we fell in love. After that we've dated secretly for months until it became too hard to keep it a secret," a hesitation came into her voice, "But that's not true, right? Nothing of that rings a bell by me."

"No, it isn't true," a glimpse of hope came into him. Maybe she did remember some small bits, knowing that they only had made up that story to the outside world, while their true relationship had developed in a very different manner.

"I knew there was something off about it," she shook her head, "So why did we pretend to have a relationship?"

"Pretend?" he reacted shocked. She thought that it was all fake?

"Yes, tell me," her brown eyes looked at him filled with curiosity.

"Hi," a manly voice suddenly interrupted them, "Is he bothering you?"

Draco looked up to see the bloody weasel standing in the doorway, who only seemed to only have eyes for the girl in the hospital bed.

To his dismay he saw that there was a connection between them. A connection that hadn't been there before.

He couldn't quite tell whether something already had happened between them or that it was bound to happen in the near future. Frankly, he didn't want to know. A gust of jealousy came over him, merely by the thought of them together.

"No, we're just talking," Hermione answered the weasel, " Maybe you could get me something to drink?"

The weasel gave grumbling in and left the room, after giving Draco a threatening look.

Draco didn't give the weasel a second look. Although Draco really hated the bloody git, he envied the Gryffindor at the same time for being able to stand up against Voldemort. If it hadn't been for the three of them, Hermione, Potter and the weasel, the dark wizard would have ruled the magic world.

Draco realized very well that they were nothing alike. He was not a brave war hero like Potter or the weasel, who had fought beside her. He had been no part of the final battle. He was simply a survivor, who was punished for his treachery. It was his way of living, sneakily finding his way to come out in the best state he could. Unlike the golden trio or even that clumsy, chubby guy whom they called Neville, he wasn't one who would fight for what he believed in. He wasn't courageous like she was. He followed his own path for selfish reasons, while she cared for the well-being of the whole world even if it would cost her her own life.

Although his lifestyle had always worked out for him in the past, he was going to pay for it now. After he had known for certain that Voldemort had been defeated and wouldn't rise again, he had come out of hiding.

The world had changed, but for him it still seemed to be grim. To the outside he was considered as a Death Eater, a follower of the Dark Lord. It didn't take them long to charge him as such. He had to go to trial in a week.

Except for some other Death Eaters, no one knew about his betrayal of Voldemort and he could definitely not count on them to save his ass. They were more than eager to see him rot in Azkaban.

Ofcourse there were the other two people who knew about his change of sides: Dumbledore and Hermione. However Dumbeldore was dead and she couldn't remember anything of that happened between them this year. The letter sent to his father, which stated that he only dated Hermione to get close to Harry, definitely wasn't in his favor either.

He had thought about running away to escape from his sentence, but for how long could he keep up with that? He didn't want to hide his whole life, being scared every minute to be found. The hiding from Voldemort had already made him completly paranoia, distrusting every person he met. He didn't want to continue living like that. Besides he had no chance in hell to visit Hermione in this luxurious hospital if he hadn't come out.

Seeing her here, all bruised and beautiful, had been worth it. At that same moment he, however, realized that this was all he was going to get. It was going to end here. He was a former Death Eater who couldn't offer her anything. What was he supposed to do? Tell her how much in love they've had been and convince her to wait for him for years, so that they could have a happily ever after when he got out of prison? He never had been one to believe in happy endings anyway. In the short time that they really had been together, it had always felt unreal to him. It had been more like a dream than something that would last.

He remembered his mother's words to follow his heart and he decided to act upon them. He had to let her go, because he loved her. She deserved better. The only thing that mattered to him was that she found happiness after the cold times of the war, even when it wasn't with him. And even though it pained him to admit it, he knew in his heart that someone else, even that stupid redhead, would be the one who would make her happier than he ever could.

"Why we pretended a relationship?" Draco repeated Hermione's question, "You saw my Dark Mark and found out that I was a Death Eater. I wanted to change and you helped me. You believed that I was changed, but the others didn't. So we faked a relationship to show that I really had changed."

The lies he told her came out easily. He always had been good in lying and deceiving. On the inside it was quite a different story though. Telling her that it was all meaningless hurted him, but he did his best to keep a straight face. She couldn't find out he wasn't telling the truth.

"That sounds reasonable," she remarked, "The thought of you and me in a relationship, that's just insane. I mean, we hate each other. I can't believe we've fooled them into believing it was real."

"Of course… they're complete morons," he hesistantly added, repeating the exact same sentence he had said after they convinced everyone in the Great Hall they had already been dating for a few months. She, however, didn't remember those words nor did she notice the sad tone in his voice.

"I heard you have an upcoming trial," she changed the subject, "I'm sorry I can't remember anything of it and help you out."

He knew her well enough to know that her words were heartfelt. Even when she didn't love him, maybe not even like him, she would still care about his fate. It was a small consolation for him.

"Don't worry about it, it was not important," he tried to fake a smile, but he didn't succeed, "All that matters now is that you get enough rest for a full recovery."

Loudly the weasel came back in the room with two cups of tea in his hands. Draco knew that it was his cue to go. His time with Hermione was over.

The weasel obviously felt the same way, the redhead left the cups on a table and stood between him and Hermione. The weasel tried to ignore his presence, making it unmistakably clear that he was unwanted here.

"It was good to see you again," Draco said to Hermione as a goodbye. This time he hadn't been lying. He really treasured this small conversation he had with her, although it probably didn't mean anything to her. He knew she was going to be alright and that knowledge was enough for him.

Sneakily Draco put some pepper into the weasel's cup. He was still a Malfoy after all. If he was going to give away the most precious thing that he ever had to that dreadful, red headed weasel, he at least could have some sort of revenge, even if it was in the smallest and most immature form he could come up with.

"Malfoy?" she called out his name, making him turn around.

"For what it's worth, I think you have changed. You look different, kinder."

"You've taught me well," he gave her a slight smile.

_Maybe a bit too well, _he thought bitterly. He caught one last glimpse of her, smiling and talking animatedly to the weasel. With a sigh he left unnoticed the room, painfully feeling what he was in Hermione's world. Forgotten.

_A/N: Another sad chapter and just one more chapter to go. I will try to update in one week, but it may be in two weeks, because it will be busy for me next week. I have to learn for a test in my Holidays... :( Anyway, I already wish everyone of you a happy new year! :D_


	18. The epilogue after the epilogue

_A/N: Here it is the final chapter, the end of the story. Now before you're going to read, I like to give my thanks to all of you who have reviewed, put this story on their alert or favorites list. I was really surprized by all the feedback I have gotten from all of you. It made me really happy :)_

_As a special thanks I like to my top 5 of reviewers:_

_-edwardsoneandonlylove : Actually you didn't make the top 5, because you're the sixth with 5 reviews. However you've stepped in this story at chapter 14 and you've been loyal ever since, so I thought that was worth mentioning as well ;) You always seem to be passionate about the story, so thanks :)_

_-PollyRawwr: the very creative student with a total of 6 reviews. You always had a lot to say about the chapters and I loved to read it all :)_

_-BeccathePurebloodPrincess : the very first reviewer with a total of 7 reviews! I was so glad to get your first review, because it's always exciting when you first start a story and have to wait and see how other will find it. Thank you for your nice words._

_-Lingo10 : the reviewer with a total of 8 reviews! You always give short reviews, but they're always good. Brief but powerful :)_

_And the second place with an amazing total of 13 reviews goes to!:_

_-Leviosascarlet166: Wow, so many reviews! :) You've been here since chapter 3 and you have been gone and back a few times. Luckily you were more there than not and that made me very happy :) I really enjoyed all your support and I hope you will like this ending as well._

_And the first place goes to no one other than:_

_-Just Your Above Average Malfoy! A total of 15 reviews 0_0 ! You truly are the top contributor and top reviewer here! Thank you, thank you, thank you! But of course, with all the arrogance you have as a Malfoy you already knew this ;) So let's hope this doesn't make you even more arrogant :P haha! No seriously, thank you!_

_Now on with the last chapter!_

**Chapter 18 The epilogue after the epilogue**

_The year 2024_

"Hugo, we have to go now!"

"Mum, I'll be done in a second."

Hermione shook impatiently her head. For some reason her son always knew to postpone things to the last minute and his nonchalance could drive her nuts at times. Although Hugo never really seemed to care about the time much, fate was always good to him. He would always miraculousy be on time somehow, even if it was in the last minute.

A new year of Hogwarts was about to begin and Hermione was going to bring her two children to Platform seven and a half at King's Cross station, like she did every year.

Rose was already waiting outside the house. It was going to be the last year for Hermione's daughter to attend Hogwarts and the mere thought of this made Hermione feel old yet proud.

Hermione looked sighing upstairs, hoping for a sign of Hugo to come down, but unfortunately there was no sign of such. A book lying on the kitchen table caught her attention, named: 'Harry Potter and the deathly Hallows'. Rose must have left it there. Like Hermione, her daughter really loved to read anything she could get a hold of. And the books about Harry, which involved both of her parents, was definitely a favorite of hers, even though Hermione had told her repeatedly it was filled with flaws.

Hermione still couldn't get used to the idea that there had been made books about her lives. It was understandable that people wanted to read about the war against Voldemort, but it was weird to read about yourself.

Although the story in the book was tried to be told in an accurate way, a lot of things had been changed for commercial purposes. The first books had been very accurate, but in the later books the people involved started to butt in. The author of the books was willing to change the story a bit for a reasonable amount of money.

So did only a few people know that Snape hadn't died, like it was stated in the book, but instead had moved to Scandinavia to live quietly and in peace. He really didn't enjoy the attention he got after the publication of the first books, so he made an agreement with the author that he would die in the story, making sure that everyone would think he was really dead.

Hermione herself had asked for some adjustments as well. She expressively told the author not to mention that she and Ron had been in a divorce at the time. Seven years ago, when the last book 'Harry Potter and the deathly hallows' was published, their divorce still had been very recent and the failure of her marriage with the redhead wasn't exactly something she wanted to share with the whole world. Although Hermione was very grateful for their two children and she wouldn't want to miss their for anything, after a few years of their marriage she had known that their marriage was a mistake. It wasn't really her fault or Ron's, it just always had felt like something was missing. Maybe a spark or a tension, she didn't know how to call it. They were better off as friends and she was glad that they could still communicate friendly with each other for the sake of their children.

Hermione also hadn't been very fond of the idea of their children being described in the book. Eventually she had only agreed on the epilogue of the book, because it showed their civil handling with Malfoy. She thought it would give an exemplary message of not holding grudges against your former enemies.

Malfoy.

In the books he was depicted as a scared bully who didn't dare to stand up against Voldemort. The only thing Malfoy apparantly had insisted on was that his mother was described as a heroine. Hermione always wondered why he only asked to change that. After his years in prison and the death of his father, he had inherited more than enough money to bribe the author of the Harry Potter series. Something must have changed him in the war for not caring about his own reputation. Everyone changed because of the war.

Hermione couldn't help but feel excited about going to King's Cross station. She would always have warm feelings for Hogwarts and the station, where the train departed, was a remainder of her own years at Hogwarts. However, there was an additional circumstance that made her feel excited.

It all started seven years ago when she brought Rose to the station for the first time. Ron had been there as well and Hugo. Harry, Ginny and their three children. And... Draco Malfoy with his wife Astoria and their son Scorpius. Their meeting had been kind of cold, with only a graceful nod of recognition and silent acceptance. Ron had been less accepting, telling Rose to beat Scorpius in every test.

At first the meeting didn't seem to be special. Apart from that they met Draco, their former school bully, and they acted in a civilized manner towards each other. Hermione had turned her attention back to Rose, to say goodbye to her as she left for Hogwarts. She could feel how nervous and anxious her daughter was for going away from home for such a long time. So Hermione gave Rose a final hug that was hopefully comforting and waved goodbye as her child went into the train. She, Ron, Harry and Ginny staid at the station, waving while the train became smaller and smaller and finally got out of their sight.

A bit reluctant Hermione followed Ron, Harry and Ginny. A few weeks ago they had made plans to eat together after they had brought their children to the train to Hogwarts. A lot had changed in these weeks. The fights between her and Ron had gotten worse and eventually she had said the inevitable four words to Ron, that had been lingering in her mind for so long, but she had been too scared to say them aloud before. "I want a divorce." However after she had said it, it became final.

The only thing that was left then, was to tell their environment. Ginny and Harry were still in the dark and they were going to tell them now. It wasn't really a meal you were looking forward to.

And then it happened in the blink of an eye. Hermione's mind had wandered off, while she was walking with her friends and soon to be ex husband. Although she had gazed at the other people at the station, she hadn't looked conciously at them until a little gesture distracted her. Someone in the crowd adjusted the sleeve of his jacket, hiding a mark on his arm. As she saw the mark, a clear image popped up in her head, seeing herself kissing the mark on the arm. Confused by her realistic thought Hermione looked at the figure at the station who had covered up the mark. She realized that the mark was the Dark Mark, the connection between Voldemort and his followers. As she kept staring at the man with the mark, she suddenly noticed it was no one other than Draco Malfoy.

Shocked she kept looking at him until he was out of sight. She quickly shook the disturbing thought out of her head and she turned her attention back to Ron and her friends. It was just a crazy image in her head that didn't mean anything.

However the image kept haunting her in her dreams. At first she thought it was because of her upcoming divorce with Ron that she was having these dreams. She felt alone and the unconcious thoughts about kissing someone else, even if it was just an arm, were comforting. And she explained the fact, that the person she was kissing was Malfoy, with the logical reasoning that she had recently seen him on the station. Besides he was best described as a bad guy and bad guys were more exciting to dream about than normal guys. She thought that her dreams would disappear in time.

Her explanations for the dreams turned out to be incorrect as time went by. The dreams kept returning and instead of disappearing they became longer and more detailed. She started to have many new dreams about Draco Malfoy, who seemed to be sweet and nice. Two characteristics she wouldn't give Malfoy in real life.

The dreams slowly became a part of her life. She got used to seeing Malfoy in her dreams and sometimes she found herself even longing for these nightly thoughts. She would feel loved and safe then, which was a discrepancy between her real life. Of course she had children who made her happy, but at night she would feel lonely and the dreams were a good companion. Furthermore, the images in her sleep seemed so real that it was hard to realize it was all a fake reality when she woke up.

"Mum, I'm ready," Hugo announced.

Hermione gave him a slight smile. If only they knew how she felt about Malfoy. They would probably call her crazy, including Malfoy himself. Maybe she had indeed gotten a bit insane, feeling loved by her dreams.

Feeling a bit excited and disappointed at the same time, Hermione left the house with Hugo to join Rose outside. It was going to be the last time she was going to see Malfoy. Every year she would see him at King's Cross, when they were both taking their children to the train. They never said anything besides a modest 'hello'. He would stand there with Astoria, his wife, as distant and cold as Hermione remembered him to be from their school years.

This year was going to be Scorpius last year on Hogwarts, unless he wasn't going to pass his classes. But according to Rose Scorpius was one of the highest scoring students, so that was highly unlikely.

Next year Malfoy wouldn't be waving his son goodbye anymore at the station and Hermione wouldn't see him anymore. That thought made her sad. However she decided that this would be the end of it all. She was going to stop these silly dreams which would never come true. She was going to meet him one last time and then it was time she stopped dreaming of a man who wasn't real.

~0~0~0~0~0~

Hermione gave Rose a last hug, as she and Hugo left for the train. Hermione hadn't seen Malfoy anywhere. She had been scanning the station, but there hadn't been a sign of him. Disappointed she waved her children goodbye. She felt especially lonely now that her children were leaving and she had to go back to an empty house. She gave a short goodbye to Ron who had been there as well.

Suddenly she saw in the crowd in the distance the back of a tall, slender figure with blonde hair. She didn't hesitate for one moment and ran after the figure.

"Malfoy!" she screamed, feeling like a crazy stalker who was calling someone who probably didn't want to be called by her. However the figure probably hadn't heard her, because he kept walking.

"Malfoy!" she tried again, while she kept running. She ran so much that she was out of breath. It became hard for her to keep up with the man at the station.

"Draco!" she mentioned his first name and he finally stopped and turned around.

"Hi..." she said, feeling very awkward now that they were facing each other. Suddenly it hit her. She finally realized something about her recurring dreams.

"Hi," he replied a bit unsure. He gave a nod with his head as a sign of respect and turned around, ready to walk out of her life again.

"It's all true, isn't it?" Hermione yelled suddenly to hold his attention. She couldn't let him leave like that. She continued: "From us sharing a room, annoying eacht other, you having red hair, going to the dance together, getting our hands glued together, you saving me from Fluffy..."

"Yes, although I rather had you not remembering me with red hair," he reacted rapidly, although he still didn't seem to believe the words she had just said. Then his face got more serious and his gaze became more intense, "You really remember everything? About us..."

"Being together. Yes," she quickly finished his sentence.

A short silence fell between them. It was a lot of information to take in and it was strange standing in front of each other, knowing what happened in their past.

"You erased parts of my memory! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? It could have backfired and then my whole memory would have been erased!" Hermione called him out when she realized the meaning of the last parts of her dreams.

A smile appeared on his face and to Hermione's dismay he seemed to be very amused by her outburst.

"What?" she asked offended.

"You haven't changed much. Still as pretty as you used to be, maybe even prettier."

Did he just flirt with her? Although Hermione tried to hide it, she couldn't help blushing like a school girl.

"Although for a smart girl like you, I thought it would have taken you a shorter time to figure it all out," he continued.

A compliment ending with a sneer. That was indeed Draco Malfoy.

"I tried to restore your memory later, but it didn't work," Draco went on. His emotion changed from amused to disturbed. There was a loneliness ringing through his words and Hermione could feel his hurt.

"I... when the war started, I thought it would be better for me, Harry and Ron if we protected ourselves from someone else messing with our heads magically. We used a protection spell," she explained. However it didn't really work on Harry. Voldemort still got through his head and made a connection between his and Harry's thoughts.

Draco gave her another nod with his head, as to show he finally understood why his spell hadn't worked. Subsequently he added a bit insecure: "Do you want something to drink with me?"

"Yes, I would like that," she smiled.

"I'd better tell Astoria I'll be home late."

"Oh... you're still married?" Hermione couldn't hide her disappointment.

"Still as gullible as ever, I see," the devilish smirk that was so characteristic for Malfoy appeared on his face.

Hermione shook her head out of disbelief. He still knew how to mislead her and challenge her.

"I missed you," she admitted. It was something she hadn't dreamed of daring to say this morning, but there was a softness and warmth coming from him that comforted her. She felt he wasn't going to reject her.

"I hope you haven't enjoyed your days without me too much, because you won't have to miss me again. I'll be annoying the hell out of you from now on," he promised, while he took a hold of her hand. The touch made Hermione's heart skip a beat.

"I think we'll be alright, as long as we don't have to share the same bathroom anymore."

"Don't worry. The Malfoy Manor has tons of bathrooms,"Draco grinned.

_A/N: I hope you liked this ending. I wanted to make the story compatible with the books. :) Well, that's a wrap. I'm not going to make a sequel, because I suck at that and I don't have much time to write. I don't think I will write another Dramione, but of course you never should say never ;) But for now I'm just going to stick with reading other Dramiones, so all, write one ;) Thanks for all of you who read this whole story. I'm sure it took a lot of your time and I'm glad you thought this story was worth your time :)_


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